The Beginning
by AMW123
Summary: The beginning from my version
1. Chapter 1

"_It's coming!"_

_The creature roars under the moonlight with his legs trampling the trees below him. As the creature's about to reach the village, a giant frog leap into it's path preventing it to go any further. On top of the frog is a man standing straight facing the creature with a giant scroll stationed in his back._

_..._

_A woman lies down in the cold ground using the last of her strength to wrap her arms around the bundle in front of her. The area around her used to contain trees but was demolished by the creature's tail. The woman then touched her abdomen where blood continues to flow out staining the ground and she knew that her time is near._

_She turned to her right and saw two figures who she recognized, one of them crouched down facing her. With her last strength, she reached towards her neck with her hand shaking and pulled her necklace free giving it to the figure crouching down beside her whose hand is shaking as well when receiving it._

_..._

_The creature looked around and saw two figures on the ground in front of him. He was about to approach them until something jumped in front of him blocking his vision._

**Naruto's pov**

I woke up with a start. These bad dreams are starting to get more realistic each time I had it. Most of them are the same thing repeated over and over again but others are different but one thing that they have in common is that in all of them, I'm the giant creature itself. This time, it's basically the same except for the part where something blocked his eyesight.

After yesterday where Iruka sensei declared that I was going to become a genin, I can hardly sleep last night. Iruka sensei said that I shouldn't think too much about what Mizuki said about being a jinchuriki but I cant help but think about it, even until now. After that event, everything suddenly made sense why many hated me and also these dreams that I keep on having.

I know that the creature itself is the kyuubi and these dreams are probably the events that happened twelve years ago. The first dream happened after Mizuki revealed that the kyuubi is inside of me where I saw the man who I'm guessing is the yondaime facing the kyuubi.

The second happens three days after the first one and it begins with the same thing except the part of the woman on the ground. I try to see her features but the closer I get, the image soon dissapeared. All I can distinguished is that she's probably a mother because the bundle is probably a baby even though I can't see what's beneath the cloth.

The third, which just happened, is the same with the other second except with the addition of something blocking his vision.

I brushed that thought aside and head to the shower.

I finally leap out of bed and look outside my window. The sun is shining, vendors are selling their goods, little kids are playing, the perfect morning for just anyone. Normally, I would hate these days but today, this is the day where I will officially meet my new teammates.

After my shower, I quickly get dressed with my usual orange jumpsuit with the white and red swirl, the only difference this time was I won't be using the goggles. I grinned and tossed it aside, replacing it with my forehead protector.

"Gah! I'm gonna be late!" I darted out as quickly as I could.

**Sasuke's pov**

I don't know which one annoys me more, either it's their screaming or their staring and I keep telling myself that today will be the last day that I'll ever see them again, hopefully, if I'm not placed in one team with them.

The teams are supposed to be picked today which I find very useless as I'm the best in this class so they'll put me with someone weaker and this will be a hindrance.

"_Foolish little brother"_

My fist clenched by just remembering that voice and for a moment there, his face flashes into my mind only to be ruined by the door opened and the changed atmosphere.

In this class, there's only two girls that wasn't one of those annoying fangirls or wouldn't look at me twice. First is the Hyuuga girl who keep stuttering but that is understandable as clan rivalry is not uncommon and the second is Sakura who just walked in.

She's a bit different than the rest because she didn't have any particular reason as to not like me compared to the clan rivalry that the Hyuuga have. However, the thing that makes her more different is that sometimes, I can feel that sometimes it wasn't just plain dislike, it was hatred over me. Almost all the boys in this class fell for her and they started staring at her, at least they're not as pathetic as these fangirls who practically stand up and followed me everywhere.

I didn't know her last name because she was one of those orphans whose parents are unknown or those kids who were not wanted and thrown away into the orphanage. She's very beautiful but I don't have time to notice or mind girls like that.

My thought are interrupted when one of those fangirls started to yell at her.

"Hey! If I were you, I'd dye my hair into another color so I won't be mistaken as a strawberry!" yelled Amy.

She stared at Amy for a second before replying

"And if I were you, I'd brush my teeth if I don't want pieces of nori from the onigiri that you ate in the morning stuck on it"

The class started laughing and trying to stare at Amy's teeth with Amy snapping at all of them while covering her mouth with her hands. When her teeth are shown again, I finally noticed the small piece of nori stuck there.

It's very difficult to notice it unless you look closely and you had to be in a close distance to notice it too but Sakura noticed it quickly after just looking at her for less than three seconds and far from Amy.

So apparantly she got sharp eyes but it doesn't mean that she'll become a skilled kunoichi with her only obtaining average grades in everything. The class is still laughing over Amy's teeth.

"Pathetic" I muttered

Suddenly, Sakura glanced up at our eyes met as if she heard me say it. If that's the case, then she got sharp ears as well although it's almost impossible for her to hear it on her own with laughter filling the class if she's not a bat. Normally I'd label this as a coincidence but those eyes seems to say otherwise.

I'm used to people staring at me with different types of expression. Admiration from those fangirls, dislike from some guys here, pity from normal villagers after the clan massacre and so on but it's different in her case. Normally, from all those expressions I did same thing which is to look away and ignore them but there is something in those eyes that compelled me to look.

Although she put on a poker face while staring at me, those eyes seemed as if they can see right through me, as if they were analysing me and knowing what type of person I am. As if... they know you better than you do about yourself.

I feel exposed being stared that way because it made me feel like I can't hide anything from her. We stayed that way for a few seconds but to me, it feels like a long time and there's only two of us in this world.

Suddenly the door slammed open which causes my attention to be distracted. That idiot sure knows how to make an entrance. I'm surprised that he's even her considering I heard that he failed the test. They must've pitied him because he's an orphan and almost everyone in the village hates him. Besides with his abilities, he might not even make it as a genin.

Iruka then finally came in and started to mention the team and the members. I closed my eyes and hoped that I'm not teamed up with that idiot or Sakura, for some reason I preferred to be stared with those fangirls goggly eyes than her intense green ones. But somehow the universe seems to go against me as I heard that sentence Iruka said.

"Team seven will be under Kakashi and will consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Naruto's pov**

" Team seven will be under Kakashi and consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura, and Sasuke Uchiha "

"AAAAHHHH!" I could't take it anymore and started to scream whether it's from happiness of being in one team with Sakura or anger for being in a team with Sasuke.

"IRUKA SENSEI! WHY AM I IN ONE TEAM WITH SASUKE!"

"Because Naruto you graduated with the lowest score in the academy while Sasuke has the highest" Iruka replied while crossing his arms.

I slumped back in my seat as those fangirls started to yell at me for complaining about their Sasuke _kun_. I looked at Sakura and although the expression in her face is unreadable, but I'm sure that she didn't hate being teamed up with me.

Sakura and I both are orphans and we both did not really hang out with others. She mostly kept things to herself. Although none of her friends seems to be extremely close with her, in fact, they're more towards acquaintances but I would occasionally saw her in the village with a brown haired girl with hairs tied in a bun. Because I didn't recognize her, then maybe she didn't go to the academy or she graduated before me.

Suddenly, she turned her head and I can get a better look at her features. She's one of the most beautiful girl that I've ever seen, in fact, she probably is because the other girls that I compared her with are girls I've seen in magazines and they still can't beat her natural beauty despite the makeups they're wearing.

Then there's Sasuke, the show off. I don't even know why most girls like Amy and Ino worshipped him and treated him like a prince. He's the last person in the world that I wanted to be teamed up with and I'm sure that he also feels the same way about me.

As much as I hated him, sometimes I feel bad for him because like me, he's also an orphan and because the boys in the class hated him and he didn't like any of the girls, we're both alone.

I break away from my thoughts and realized that there's only three of us in here. Everyone else's senseis already pick them up and Iruka sensei left. Whoever our sensei is, he/she is late. If he hasn't arrived yet, maybe I'll have enough time to come up with a prank for him.

**Sakura's pov**

It's going according to the plan, to be in one team with the kyuubi's jinchuuriki and the Uchiha. The clan did their job well, a little too well perhaps, the hokage's starting to get suspicious.

Now, there's only three of us in this room and the jonin, Kakashi, is late. He is after all the only obstacle to the success of this mission and from his reputation and the hokage's suspicion, he'll be difficult to handle.

The kyuubi's jinchuuriki, Naruto, will be easy to handle as long as he haven't learned to use the kyuubi's powers yet. Although he's still weak now but the hokage's been watching him.

Suddenly, I felt someone approaching from his/her chakra level and the footsteps he/she is making. The person is still outside this room but he/she is slowly approaching. From the noises of the footsteps, it's definitely a man. After a closer observation, it's definitely our new sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

Now, it's almost time. I have to play my part carefully and avoid being discovered. As long as I don't make myself stand out by being average in everything, I won't be caught. It might be easier because even though he's a skilled shinobi, he and this village never encountered this type of problem before so he won't suspect me.

Naruto's trying to pull a prank on him by putting a board erasers on top of the door while the Uchiha is looking smug, probably of being in a team with two "weaklings" that'll pull him down. The moment he walks in on the door, it's time.

**Normal pov**

"This'll teach him not to be late" said Naruto

"Dobe" said Sasuke looking on impassively

"Like you can do better teme!"

"Our sensei is a jonin, he won't fall for that" said Sasuke unimpressed

Suddenly, the door opened and a figure walked in only to have a board eraser fall on top of his head.

"HA HA HA! You fell for it!" said Naruto while trying to control his laughter

The figure looked around studying the three kids in front of him.

"Hmmm... How can I say this? My first impression is... I don't like you guys" he said with a fake enthusiasm.

Soon, they're all seated on top of the academy roof.

"Alright then, let's start by introducing yourself" he said

"How about you start first sensei" said Sakura

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes is none of your businesses, my dreams for the future... never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies"

"That's completely useless, all you told us is your name" said Sakura

"Now its your turn blondie" said Kakashi

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I LIKE RAMEN. WHAT I LIKE EVEN MORE IS THE RESTAURANT RAMEN IRUKA SENSEI BUYS ME. WHAT I DISLIKE IS WAITING THREE MINUTES FOR THE RAMEN TO COOK. MY DREAMS IS TO SURPASS ALL THE HOKAGES AND HAVE EVERYONE IN THE VILLAGE ACKNOWLEDGE MY EXISTENCE!"he shouted it all in one breath.

"Next"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. My ambition is to resurrect my clan and kill a certain man" said Sasuke.

_Apparently, he still thinks that he's ahead of everyone because he's used to be the best in the academy _thought Sakura looking at him with an amused expression

"You're next pinky" said Kakashi

"My name is Sakura not pinky" she began with a hint of warning which the jonin seems to catch

"My likes and dislikes are personal and since you're not telling yours, I don't have to tell mine. I don't have a particular hobby while my plans for the future is still undecided" finished Sakura

"That's enough of that then. Tomorrow we are going to have survival training where if you fail, you'll be sent back to the academy" said Kakashi

"WHAT!" shouted Naruto

"See you then" finished Kakashi as he disappeared in a puff of smoke

_Minato sensei's son grows up in an interesting way. _Kakashi thought

_It's not surprising for the Uchiha to have such goal although he still have a long way ahead before he'll be able to reach it. The girl seems ok enough. The hokage says to keep really close attention to this team but the question is from what, or more specifically, from who?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Normal pov**

"Hi guys!" Kakashi said appearing in the branches

"YOU'RE LATE" naruto yelled while pointing an accusing finger at him

"Sorry, I got lost in a path called life"

"LIAR!"

"Well anyway..." Kakashi began trying to change the subject

"Today, your test is to take one of those bells in here" he pointed to 2 bells on his hip

"But there's only 2 of them" naruto said

"Well then, one of you will not pass then"

Kakashi said

**'I must pass!'** Naruto thought while clenching his fist

**'That person won't be me**' Sasuke thought

**'Well this is unexpected**' thought sakura

analyzing kakashi

**'Those two are not in his level, yet'**

"And also, the person who can't get the bell by noon, will have to be tied in a post while the others who got it will eat in front of you"

**'GAH, I'm soo hungry'** naruto thought while rubbing his stomach

'So, let's begin'kakashi said as his clone burst into smoke

...

Soon, Naruto was crouching in a bush while sasuke and sakura are hiding in the trees.

**'That's it! I'm going in'** naruto thought preparing himself to attack kakashi

Naruto launched himself where kakashi easily dodged his attacks with ease.

Then, kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out an orange book

**'Is that some sort of weapon?'** Naruto thought and continues to keep launching attacks.

"You're disturbing my reading" kakashi said as he suddenly appears behind naruto and put his hand into a position

"One thousand years of death" kakashi said as he positioned it in naruto's butt throwing him forward

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

**'What kind of attack is that'** sasuke thought

**'That's just a regular kancho'** sakura thought looking down on the jounin

...

**'Alright, I'm gonna start moving in'** sasuke thought as he pulled out a kunai and throw it in kakashi's direction

The kunai landed on kakashi who then burst into a puff of smoke

**'A bushin! I have to move, he found my position'**sasuke thought as he moved among trees

**'That idiot! A thrown kunai won't be strong enough to defeat a jonin'** sakura thought while detecting a kakashi clone moving closer to her

**'Well, I might as well do my mission'**

"Hello sakura"kakashi whispered

A high pitched scream was later heard throughout the forest

...

**'That must be sakura'** sasuke thought while emerging from the trees

"It is very like her to fall for such trap, but I'm nothing compared to those two"

"Well, we'll see then. Looks like I won't be able to read while doing this" kakashi said while closing his book

Sasuke started to throw kunais at kakashi which he effectively dodged. Then, sasuke formed a series of hand seals.

"Firestyle fireball jutsu"

"What! That's impossible, only a jonin can perform elemental jutsu" kakashi said looking slightly surprised

A burst of fire soon emerged heading towards kakashi's direction.

**'Its over'** thought sasuke

Suddenly, the ground shake and a hand pulled sasuke under

"Sorry, looks like you failed" kakashi said to sasuke who's submerged in ground with only his head exposed

...

**'This is a low leveled genjutsu'** sakura thought

**'I better not dispel it'**

"Sakura..."

**'This looks really realistic, I have to admit'**

The bloody sasuke will make fangirls all over the world faint. Better stay in character'

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh"

**'Maybe I'll also pretend to faint for extra effect.'**

'Ah, she fell for such a small trap' kakashi thought observing a figure lying down in the grass.

...

"Gah! I'm gonna get out of this rope!" Naruto screamed while wriggling

"Ah finally!" As soon as he said that, he fell into the ground

"Oof"

**'Hey, that's the lunch boxes! Hehehe, he's not here right now so I'm gonna eat to get some strength to defeat him!'**

Naruto thought as he grabbed one and was about to eat until a figure appeared on the back

"What are you doing..."Kakashi said with a scary voice

"Errrr" naruto started to cringe

...

"Well then, because none of you managed to get the bell, I will extend the test. And because naruto tried to eat ahead, he's going to be the one tied to the post and if you both feed him, you will both fail" kakashi said strictly

"Well then, I'll see all of you later" kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke

**'Haaah, my stomach's growling'** thought naruto whose stomach is really growling

"Here naruto, take mine" sakura said holding her lunch box in front of naruto

"B-b-but sakura chan, you'll fail"

"Well I'm not suited into being a ninja anyway, hopefully you'll have better luck than me in being one" she said while taking some rice with her chopsticks

"Eat"

Naruto opened his mouth and eat the rice.

"You're feeding the dobe?" Sasuke said while glaring at naruto

"Yes, unlike someone who preferred doing things all by himself and failed at it" sakura replied nonchalantly

"Take mine" sasuke said while not looking at both naruto and sakura

"Sasuke?!" Naruto said

"I'm doing this out of pity"

Suddenly, the sky turned darker and there's lightning. Then, kakashi appeared.

"YOU GUYS FEED HIM!"

Sasuke get up and braced himself, naruto was wriggling in his rope, and sakura backed away

"YOU GUYS THEN DESERVES..."

Naruto was really shaking

"To be called genins" kakashi finished with a smile.

The lightnings and thunders disappeared and replaced with clear sky and the sun shining

"Those who break the rules are scum but those who abandoned their comrades are worse than scum"

"So... We passed?" Naruto asked

"Yes"

"YEAH!" Naruto grinned

"We'll start training tomorrow so be prepared" kakashi said before he left, walking this time with sasuke and sakura following behind

**'I'm going to be the greatest ninja dattebayo!' **Naruto thought before realizing something

"Errr guys, can one of you please untie me?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Normal pov**

"AAAH! Hokage-sama I'm already sick and tired of all these D-ranks missions. They're useless and boring" Naruto complained while rubbing his arms from scratches caused by Tora.

"Naruto! You musn't complained like that to Hokage-sama after all genins all started with D-ranks, then C-ranks, B-ranks, A-ranks and finally S-ranks" Iruka lectured

"But these missions didn't help us become better ninjas, they're useless and boring"

"It teaches us to serve the villagers and to improve teamwork Naruto!"

The sandaime then cleared his throat and begin to speak

" Do you think that your team is ready for a C-rank mission Kakashi?"

" Well I do think that their teamwork will not improve by these D-ranks missions Hokage-sama" Kakashi replied

" Well then, Iruka I think it's time to give Team Seven a C-rank mission this time"

"Alright Hokage-sama" Iruka said while rummaging through scrolls. As he's doing that, a knock on the door was heard.

"Come in" replied the Hokage

"Is my mission ready yet?" a man with straw hat asked

The Hokage smiled before he said "Yes, Team Seven this is your first C-rank mission and the man you're protecting"

"A bunch of brats?" the man asked with a tone of dislike

"HEYYY!, we're not kids!" Naruto cried while glaring at the old man

"Especially the short one" the man stated

It took a moment for Naruto to realize that the shortest is him

"HEYYY! My height has nothing to do wi-"

"Are you sure that they're up to the job Hokage-sama? This doesn't seem like a good team for me" the man cut off Naruto

Before the Hokage had a chance to replied, Kakashi said "Don't worry, I'm a jonin and capable of protecting you"

"R-right, of course" Tazuna stammered guiltily

"So Tazuna, do you have any objections?" The Hokage added

"No, of course not"

"Well then, be ready to leave at seven by tomorrow" Iruka said before adding "Naruto..."

"Huh?"

"Be careful" Iruka said with a worried look on his face

Naruto grinned and said "Don't worry Iruka sensei, I've already trained dattebayo!"

...

After the team assembled at seven, they started their journey through the forest. As they travelled further, the air becomes colder.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei? Where are we going again and why is it soo cold?" Naruto asked while rubbing his hands to warm them up

"We're going to a village located near the Land of Water" Kakashi said

"So this village is located in the Land of Water?" Naruto asked still curious

"No, it is located in the middle of the Land of Water and the Land of Fire" Kakashi replied while looking at the ground

Naruto look around and saw Sasuke looking uninterested at the trees while Sakura is looking at a puddle. He decided to talk to Sakura because she look serious for a second before her expression is replaced with a calm one but before he could say anything, a chain appeared and wrap around Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried

Two figure in black robe suddenly emerged and pulled the chains together crushing Kakashi in the process. Then, they started to attack the three genins with chains.

One of them first try to aim at Naruto, who at that time was frozen, but Naruto begin to move after he felt something scratches him at his neck. He dodged the chains and throw the kunai at the attacker which he deflected with his chains.

"Kage bushin no jutsu"

Five clones appeared and started to attack the man. While Naruto is busy, Sasuke started to attack the other one using hand-to-hand combat.

'**It'll be easier if he wasn't armed'** thought Sasuke

Suddenly, his attacker isn't focusing on him anymore and headed towards his right

'**Where is he going?' **Sasuke thought before he realized **'He's going after Tazuna and Sakura!'**

Sasuke chases after him and positioned himself between him and Sakura who's positioning herself in front of Tazuna. He sees that Naruto is also facing some difficulty to keep his own attacker occupied and already lost his last clone. Sasuke then noticed the chains coming towards him and dodged where the knife on the chain is stuck in a tree. Sasuke then pulled the chains and as he's about to beat up his attacker, Kakashi appeared and single handedly beat up the two attackers.

**Kakashi's pov**

After I dealt with those chuunins, we decided to stop here for a while. Sasuke stated that Sakura's useless because she didn't do anything which she didn't paid much attention to but Naruto took it more personal and said that Sasuke won't defeat one assasin if Kakashi hasn't intervened and this turns into a series of arguements where Naruto is yelling at Sasuke and him retording in a flat tone.

Sasuke seems to react well being the first among the three to engage in a fight with one of the attackers after the bushin dissapeared. Naruto is frozen at first but then, Sakura scratches his neck with her kunai which prompt him to snap out of it and started to fight the other attacker.

It's clever of her to scratches his neck with a kunai to make Naruto awake from a trance. But somehow, it was too quick of an action to be performed at a time where she was supposed to be panicked instead of thinking logically. Not even Sasuke can think that fast to wake Naruto from his trance, he would defend himself first whereas Sakura noticed others around her.

Somehow, I think about what the Hokage have said previously to keep close attention to the team. It's reasonable to be worried about Naruto who can lose control due to being a jinchuriki or Sasuke who's easily tempted with power but the girl Sakura? Well, maybe I'm just being paranoid and some people really can be fast thinkers, especially if Sakura's grades at the academy is good.

Now, putting all those thoughts aside, I need to deal with one important thing

...

"You lied to us by saying that this is a C-rank mission instead of a B-rank mission because it involves shinobis" Kakashi said coldly to Tazuna

"I'm sorry, but I don't have enough money to pay for a B-rank mission" Tazuna replied guiltily after being interrogated by Kakashi

"But I really need protection from them!"

"Well because you lied to us then we have no obligations to protect you and continue this mission"

Kakashi said while standing up and preparing to leave

Naruto saw Tazuna's sad expression and feels guiltly

"Ehhmmm, Kakashi sensei! Can't we stay and complete this mission? We can't just leave Tazuna"

Naruto said hoping to change Kakashi's mind.

"Well alright then, do the two of you agree with Naruto?" Kakashi asked Sasuke and Sakura

"Hn" Sasuke replied, not even looking at Kakashi

"I agree" Sakura replied

"Then we'll continue this mission. But remember, these shinobis that they sent were chuunins so the next shinobi that they sent might be jonins" Kakashi replied

Tazuna breathed a huge sigh of relief

"Oh, and one more thing" Tazuna said, a bit hestitant

"What is it?" replied Kakashi

"The man that I mentioned named Gatou, you know about him right?" Tazuna asked

"Yes, why?"

"I was wondering about this and this could also affect the mission greatly. If you know about this and decided to abandon the mission, I completely understand" Tazuna said while looking at the ground with a scared expression.

Now, the three genins are listening closely

"What is it?"

Tazuna asked nervously "Is there a possibility that the next shinobis that he sent might come from the Haruno clan?"


	5. Chapter 5

_**"I was wondering about this and this could also affect the mission greatly. If you know about this and decided to abandon the mission, I completely understand" Tazuna said while looking at the ground with a scared expression.**_

_**Now, the three genins are listening closely**_

_**"What is it?"**_

_**Tazuna asked nervously "Is there a possibility that the next shinobis that he sent might come from the Haruno clan?"**_

Naruto's pov

Huh? Haruno clan? What kind of clan is that and why is Tazuna looking so scared?

I was about to ask Kakashi sensei but he had this unreadable expression on his eyes. It looks as if we're talking about a taboo topic or he's scared to talk about it here.

"That clan extinct years ago" Sasuke said with his usual calm face but his tone made it sounds like it's a sensitive subject to talk about. Sasuke looks like he knows more about it than what he said.

I look at Tazuna who still look at the ground looking scared. He looks more scared now compared to when those rogue ninjas show up.

I look over Tazuna and saw Sakura. She has an unreadable expression but not scared or tense like Tazuna, Sasuke, or Kakashi sensei. But like everyone, she didn't seem clueless like me.

I got curious so I ask Kakashi sensei

"Kakashi sensei, what is the Haruno clan? Are they similar to the Uchiha clan? And why do Tazuna seems soo scared of them?"

Kakashi sensei looked at me then said "Like what Sasuke said, they're already extinct years ago. As you can see Tazuna, there's nothing to be worried about.

Even though after what Kakashi sensei said, the rest of the trip remains quiet and tense as each of us are busy with our own thoughts.

As much as I wanted to forget about it, but I can't. I have a feeling that Kakashi sensei is hiding something and he didn't want to tell us about it.

Haruno clan? Are they some sort of some super strong clan like the Uchiha clan? It makes more sense if it's like that because Sasuke knows about it.

Soon, my thoughts are interrupted when I saw that the mist starts to thicken and everyone stop walking.

Suddenly, I saw an object coming towards us. Because of the mist, I couldn't tell what it is but it's heading towards us

"Everyone get down" Kakashi sensei said

When the object got closer, the object looks like a big sword. It aimed for us but because we dodged it, the sword hit a tree nearby.

I'm really shocked and my heart is beating loudly. After that, the air is still but I can feel the danger and tension in it.

"All of you, protect Tazuna" Kakashi sensei said bracing himself in a fighting position.

After he said that, a figure emmerged so fast that I didn't see it coming and stand on top of the blade.

Well, this is certainly a surprise. I didn't thought about facing a well known shinobi like you on a mission like this, Kakashi Hatake." The voice sounds like a man but I can't see what he looks like because of the mist.

Soon, the mist around him starts to dissapear and i can see his face, well.. most of them at least that's not covered by the bandage which is only his eyes. Just by looking at his eyes, i can tell that he's a dangerous guy and also by the killing intent that he gives off.

"I also didn't think about facing you, Zabuza." Kakashi sensei said with a serious expression.

**Sasuke's pov**

Well, a jounin from another village huh, we'll see how strong he is but by looking at him, he's probably around Kakashi level.

I look at Naruto and he doesn't seem scared at all but then the dobe probably has no idea on how dangerous this jounin really is. I look at Sakura expecting her to be scared and I was right, she was practically shaking.

Then, Kakashi adjusted his forehead protector to reveal... a sharingan?! That's impossible, only those from the Uchiha clan have it unless he's an Uchiha.

However, my thought was cut off by the sound of metal clashing each other, a kunai and the blade.

Seems like Kakashi finally engage him in a fight. I tried to focus in case our enemy sneak behind us but I'm distracted by the earlier conversation. The Haruno clan? The man must be a lunatic to mention it here out of all places and after being attacked mentioning a clan that was _supposed _to be extinct.

I don't know much about the clan but the Uchiha clan mentioned it a couple of times. Father and _him _didn't want to tell me about it so I searched about it through about it. I didn't find anything in the library and when I asked uncle about it, he said that the clan extinct years ago but he seems weird when he said that.

Suddenly, I stopped my daydreaming but I'm too late. Zabuza managed to trap Kakashi in a water prison.

**Normal pov**

While Naruto and Sasuke is trying to find a way to deal with Zabuza, Sakura left a clone and sneak into the forest.

'**It was a mistake, him being here'** Thought Sakura '**This could delay or even destroy the mission**'

As she went in the forest, away from the mist, she raised my left arm and feel it burning. Then, a mark is visible on it and it's glowing blue.

After some time, there's a presence behind her. Sakura turned back and observe the figure who's is covered in a dark blue cloak from head to toe and wears a mask.

"There's a disturbance in the mission" Sakura said keeping a poker face

The figure look towards the fighting for a moment when Sasuke throw a giant fuma shuriken towards Zabuza that turned into Naruto.

"I see your point" the figure said

"Should we report this?" Sakura asked

"That won't be necessary, I'll deal with this. In case things get out of hand, do everything you can to ensure that the jinchuriki is alive. That's all"

Sakura nodded and started to walk back towards the battle field.

"And remember..." the figure started and Sakura stopped walking

"Don't let them find out who you are" the figure finishes and head into the deeper part of the forest.

Sakura stood still for a moment and touches her upper right arm as if there's a wound there. She shook her head and head back towards the battlefield where the fighting has ended and Kakashi collapse.


	6. Chapter 6

Normal pov

After the fight ended, Zabuza was placed in a clearing. As he lay down, Haku tended to his wounds and check for any injuries. Zabuza's eyes then snapped open as he senses someone coming closer.

"Haku, hide now" Zabuza said

Haku nodded and moved into the trees. Zabuza sit up and hold his blade preparing himself.

"So apparently Tazuna's prediction is true after all, there really is a Haruno in the battle field after all, although he mistaken the Haruno's mission and employer. Are you the only one?"

The figure didn't say anything and keep looking down careful to avoid eye contact

Zabuza laughed before he asked "Are you going to kill me?"

"Mind to ask your subordinate to reveal himself, and to answer your question, that depends, after all your subordinate might try to kill me if I take a step further" the figure said still keeping eye contact with Zabuza

Haku jumped down from the tree and stood still not moving forward or backwards

"Haku" Zabuza said gesturing the boy to come

"Picking up a boy from the Yuki clan to be your warrior? That's very like you to do such a thing" the figure turned back and started to walk back "I won't report you to them as long as you keep out of my mission"

"And care to enlighten me about what this mission is about?"

"That's classified but I'm asking you for one thing" the figure replied

"And that is?"

"Stay away from the three genins and it will make both our lives easier. It's only the bridge builder that you're after although I wouldn't mind it much if you'll kill the jounin" the figure stared directly at Zabuza and started to head back into the forest

"How about if I kill you and this will make both our lives easier" Zabuza said before he lunged himself forward while swinging his sword. The sword is about to hit the figure until Zabuza collapse in the ground and cried out in pain. The figure kneel beside him. Zabuza was close enough to see the figure's eyes behind the mask.

"If you don't want to feel more pain, get your henchman to stop" the figure said preventing Haku to move towards Zabuza

"HAKU STOP RIGHT THERE!" Zabuza screamed when he saw Haku was running towards him. "Y-y-you're..."

"Master?" Haku asked looking worried

"You're a royal" Zabuza finished, an expression of disbelief and fear were etched on his face.

The figure lifted his/her arm and the pain is gone. Zabuza stand up, still looking shocked

"Judging from your chakra level, it'll take you at least three days until you've recovered. During those three days where you'll meet your employer, do not tell him about this encounter"

The figure then walked back into the forest and before it went further it stopped and at that moment Zabuza feel more pain than he did previously until he was screaming.

"If you disobey me, you'll suffer worse than that" the figure replied and walked towards the forest. After it dissapear into the forest, the pain is gone

"Master?" Haku asked looking worried as Zabuza has fear on his face

"Let's go Haku. I think it's time to make our entrance" that's all Zabuza said before he hoisted himself up and realizing that he's almost out of chakra from the fight with Kakashi.

The figure then walked back towards the battle field and hide behind the bushes observing the aftermath battle from afar and looking at the girl in red.

The girl also felt it's presence and turns. For a moment, their eyes met and time feels so slow and those two are the only ones there only to be broken when the girl is distracted by her blonde teammate for a second and when she looks back, the figure is gone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Normal pov**

"Kakashi sensei, you're finally awake!"

"Where am I?" Kakashi asked observing his surrounding while laying down

"Tazuna's house, you were unconscious from the fight with Zabuza. Didn't you remember?" Sakura answered for him

"Oh right" Kakashi replied looking deep in thought

Nobody said anything for a while but it was soon interrupted by the door being opened

"Oh right, everyone this is my grandson Inari" Tazuna announced as a small six year old boy walked in the room. He gives them a sour glare and said "It's useless, they can't stop him. They even look weak" and ran off.

"HEY! Just who does he thinks he is by saying that!" Naruto cried running off to towards his direction.

**Naruto's pov**

That boy! Who does he thinks he is to say that. We're not weak, after all me and Sasuke both managed to outsmart Zabuza on our own. I walked angrily and saw him turn into a corner from the hallway and into a bedroom.

This must be his room. I was about to open the door but it was already opened. I prepared to yell at him but then I heard sobbings. I look through the slightly opened door.

"Dad..." Inari cried while holding a picture. His tears fell on the frame.

I closed the door carefully to avoid making sound and walked back towards the guest room where Kakashi sensei and the rest are.

Looking at Inari crying reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I used to cry because I'm always lonely and didn't know who my parents are. Other kids my age can have fun with their parents and enjoy playing ninjas with their friends while I have to be alone.

_Flashback_

"_This is your allowance for the month. Spend it wisely" The Sandaime Hokage said while putting an envelope in the desk_

"_Who are my parents? Other orphans are told who they are whether they're dead or alive but you don't tell me" I asked as he turns to walk away_

_The sandaime stopped and stay still for a while _

"_When you're older you might understand" the sandaime replied and left._

_End flashback_

I always remember that memory and everytime I saw a happy family, it just came into my head unconsciously. When I went inside, Tazuna told us that Inari's father left him when he was a baby but his father figure is a man who fight against Gatou and killed.

Even though I feel pity for the kid but sometimes, I feel jealous of Sasuke and now Inari because at least they get to spend time with their parents and certain on their parent's fate while I don't even know what kind of person my parents are or whether they're still alive or dead.

But I stopped thinking about these after Kakashi announced the news

**Normal pov**

"Zabuza is still alive" Kakashi said

"WHAAAT! B-b-but Kakashi sensei, the hunter nin caught him" Naruto cried and Tazuna also looked equally shocked

"The hunter nin did not destroyed the body like they were supposed to when he first got him so it's possible that he was trying to save Zabuza not kill him. Even though this might not be true, we have to prepare ourselves for the worst, that's why today despite my need for recovery I'm going to train you all" Kakashi said

...

Naruto panted and gasping for breath as he look at the scratches that he make on the tree with his kunai. The only person among the three who managed to complete the exercise is Sakura and now she's resting on the tree bark while reading a book.

_I might progress further with asking for help from her_ Naruto thought. He moved towards Sakura and asked for tips.

"Okay first, mold your chakra and then..." Sakura began telling Naruto all the necessary information. Sasuke watches them from afar with an unreadable expression.

After listening to Sakura's explaination, Naruto's progress is better and soon he catches up to Sasuke.

"Hey Sakura" Sakura looked towards who's calling her

"What is it Sasuke?"

"What did you tell Naruto?" Sasuke asked not looking at her because of is stubborness

As she's about to said something a voice interrupted

"SHE'S NOT GONNA TELL YOU ISN'T THAT RIGHT SAKURA CHAN!" Naruto yelled while glaring at Sasuke. Sasuke started twitching and give Naruto a glare.

Sakura then packed up her stuff and tell the two that she'll go back to the house to help Inari's mom cook dinner. After she's out of sight, Naruto and Sasuke started to practice tree climbing more intent on beating the other.

...

"So in the end, you both still can't reach the top?" Sakura asked. Turns out Kakashi saw them practicing.

Naruto and Sasuke both said while glaring daggers at each other and continue to stuff food in their mouth.

"Well at least you both managed to reach the middle" Kakashi said which was ignored by the two "by the way, you both fell at the same time"

"I WANT MORE!" both yelled at the same time trying to beat each other in eating.

"I'm really sorry for this ma'am" Kakashi apologized for both boys' behaviour

"That's not a problem after all a growing boy needs to eat a lot" Inari's mother said while the entire table is watching Naruto and Sasuke fight for Sakura's leftover rice before finally deciding that Kakashi sensei should be the one that finish it due to his recovery.

After dinner is finished, Naruto lay his head into the table feeling sleepy from the amount of food that he ate. Inari looks at him and started to cry and yell "why did you all work so hard! It's useless, he's going to end up killing you all. Nothing can stop him"

Naruto stay silent while Inari's mother scold him for yelling at their guest.

Naruto then said with a calm voice "Why did you think you're lonely? You have a grandpa and mother who loves you and a good home to stay. You're not alone and hated by the entire village"

The entire table fell silent after Naruto said that as Inari continue crying. Then Naruto stood up and get out of the room.

...

Inari was looking at the water ripples outside of the house sitting down on the boardwalk. The scene with Naruto keep playing on his head.

"Mind if I join you?" Kakashi asked

Inari looked up at the silver haired man and nodded while continue to look at the water.

"Naruto didn't have any parents you know" Kakashi began. Inari looked at him surprised. "He's lonely when he was a kid so he also understand how you feel living without a father"

Inari looked surprised but still stay silent until Kakashi left.

...

Inside the house, Naruto was already asleep and Sasuke was unpacking his things when he saw Sakura sitting by the edge of the window looking at something outside with a distant expression. He pretended to pace around the room until he figured out what she's looking at and after he found it, he soon regret it.

_It's a full moon today _Sasuke thought but he ignored her and prepared to sleep. Soon, she finally head towards her sleeping bag and sleep but Sasuke still lay awake remembering a memory that still haunt him to this day.


	8. Chapter 8

**Naruto's pov**

I wake up from the sound of birds chirping and the sunlight hitting my eye. I opened my eyes and try to remember how I got here. Oh right, last night I woke up at around three in the morning and went here to practice that tree climbing exercise again.

I sat up and immediately feel exhausted again. I guess I'm not used practicing this much huh. I look at my surroundings and noticed the presence of someone next to me.

She's a very beautiful woman, almost as beautiful as Sakura but due to the age difference it's hard to compare the two. She has long black hair parted in the middle and a kind and gentle face.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the forest?"

I was still staring in awe as she said that so I immediately snap out of it and answer

"I was training"

"You must be really strong after training so hard" she smiled as she said this

I smiled while looking away and scratches the back of my neck, embarrassed.

"Protecting the people that I care about is the purpose of my life, I want to be strong enough to protect them" I said with determination "so that's why I have to train hard"

The woman looks surprised for a second. I wondered what did I say to shock her like that?

"So that's your purpose in life..."

"Yeah, I mean everyone has one of course. Something that makes you want to try harder. What's yours?" I asked curiously

She went silent for a while and look at the ground avoiding to meet my eye. She has an expression of hurt and sadness. Soon she noticed that I was staring at her and replied

"I'm sorry, I'm just thinking about an event that happened previously where I'm unable to help the person that I cherish from being in pain" she answered and looks sad after she said the last part

"Then do whatever it takes" I said without thinking

"What do you mean?"

"Do whatever it takes so that the person you cherish won't feel the pain anymore. Stay by his or her side" I finished. I don't usually say this to people but when I look at her expression, I just feel like I have to say it and now, she smiled at me and her expression changed to gratefulness.

"Thank you, that is a very helpful advice" she said as she stand up and brushed her clothes "I should be leaving now"

As she walks away with her back turned towards me, she stopped and said

"By the way, I'm a boy"

AAAAAHHH! Oh my gosh! How could this be?! That guy's almost as pretty as Sakura! I started to roll over at the grass feeling so stupid that I become giddy because of a boy. I better not tell anyone about this.

...

**Sasuke's pov**

Usually I'm an early riser but somehow I found it hard to believe that this morning I'm the last person who wakes up. Even the dope isn't here. I know Kakashi's out guarding Tazuna while he's finishing the bridge but I didn't see both Naruto and Sakura here. I went down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Oh good morning!" Inari's mother, whose name I remembered, is Tsunami said

"Morning"

I ate my breakfast alone that morning while Tsunami washes the dishes. I ask her where Naruto and Sakura is

"Your blonde teammate has gone off somewhere early in the morning because he didn't come down for breakfast just now with my father and your sensei"

"Alright, thank you for the information" I was about to leave until she said

"Your female teammate, Sakura, went off swimming somewhere. Right about this time of day usually there's lots of fisherman working on their boats so you better call her to stop swimming or avoid swimming at the border"

"I will tell her that" I said before exiting the house. I expect finding Sakura to be easy as she stands out in the blue water because of her pink hair but it's more difficult than I thought. After some time now I finally found her swimming near the border between the ocean and the village.

"Tsunade said to be careful of the boats and don't swim to close to the borders" I said. She nodded and continue swimming. Unconsciously, I find myself observing her.

She's wearing a tank top with pants, probably her pajamas. She has a great figure, I thought as she swam back and forth with a certain gracefullness that I rarely saw in a woman before.

I snapped back from my thoughts and remembered last night. Her expression when she saw the moon is pure fascination. The full moon...

_Flashbacks_

_I'm late_

_T-t-t-they're dead_

_Foolish little brother_

_It all happens in one night, poor thing, he's the only survivor_

_End flashbacks_

Without realizing it, I clench my fist so hard until blood comes out, I look at Sakura and she's still busy swimming. I soak my hands in the water hoping that there isn't much blood that'll make her or anyone else noticed and head towards the forest without saying anything to Sakura_._

_It's not like she needs to know where I'm going _I thought

When I arrive in the forest, I pass a woman and Naruto was rolling in the grass behind her. _Baka_ I thought to myself.

I took my position in the tree and mold my chakra to my feet, I saw Naruto doing the same as he saw me. _The baka is still trying to match with me huh, well it'll take forever for him anyway _I thought before I ran.

**Normal pov**

After Sasuke left, Sakura swam closer to the edge of the boardwalk where he previously stood on. The water below it still have some traces of red. She raised her hand and cupped some water and smell it even thought without smelling it she can already tell what it was.

After smelling it, she dropped her hands and looked towards the direction where Sasuke left and back to the water. She stared at the traces of blood slowly dissolving into the water slowly and little by little until it's completely gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Normal pov

"Zzzzzz"

"Looks like he won't be strong enough to come with us today." Kakashi said looking at the sleeping Naruto

"Dobe" Sasuke muttered

"Well, it looks like we have to leave without him. We'll be going now and thanks for everything Tsunami-san" Kakashi said as the others left

"Bye, be careful" Tsunami called

...

"AAAHHHH!" Naruto cried

" I gotta hurry!" Naruto then looked around

"They all left me!" Naruto said fiddling with his clothes

When he's finished, he ran downstairs and raced out of the door

"I'm off! Take care everyone" Naruto said as Inari watches him leave from the door unaware of two people hiding in the bushes near his house.

Inari went back inside and saw his mom grabbed by two men.

"KYAAA"

"MOM" Inari cried

"INARI! RUN!" Tsunami yelled

"There's a kid?" the first man said

"Forget about him, there's nothing he can do. Kill him if you want to" the second said

"G-g-get away from my mom!" Inari yelled as he launched himself towards the two men

...

"A-a-all of my workers!" Tazuna cried running up to them

"They're still alive" Kakashi said as he bend down and inspected one of them "Who did this to you?"

"That would be me" a voice replied. Kakashi looked up and saw the mist starting to thicken.

"Zabuza" Kakashi muttered as he saw Zabuza emerge with the hunter nin beside him "Looks like my suspicion is correct after all"

"Haku, finish him off" Zabuza motioned towards Sasuke

"Hai" Haku said as he speed up towards Sasuke who took out a kunai bracing himself.

"I might as well finish what I started" Zabuza said swinging his sword towards Kakashi.

As the two fights started, none of the shinobis are aware of the hooded figure watching them from afar clenching a naginata.

...

"Sorry I'm a little late Inari but a hero always comes at the last minute. Luckily I saw a cut out boar in the forest just now" Naruto said to a crying Inari

Inari sniffled and look at Naruto

"I have to go now, Kakashi sensei and the rest probably are also in trouble" Naruto said leaving

"WAIT!" Inari cried running after him "Don't go! What if you're killed?! You won't make that dream of becoming hokage come true if you're dead! Don't go!"

_I'm still weak after all this time, I can't even stop crying_ Inari thought. Naruto stopped for a second and turned towards Inari

"I have to go. Everyone might be in trouble and they might need my help. I won't die, don't worry. I have to save them if they're in trouble because a hokage won't let his people die!" Naruto said "You also need to stay here and take care of your mother"

"I'm not strong enough" Inari said trying to hold back tears "You won't be here to save us again if someone attacks us"

"You are strong Inari! Facing those men for the sake of your mother shows that you're strong!" Naruto said while patting Inari's head "I have to leave now, I can count on your right?!"

"Y-y-yes" Inari said wiping his tears

"Great. I'll stay alive and be hokage dattebayo!" Naruto said as he ran "Oh, Inari you are also a hero. Remember that!"

Inari looked up towards Naruto as he ran towards the bridge.

_Hang in there everyone! I'm coming_ Naruto thought

...

Sasuke dodged the final senbon and charged towards Haku. _At this rate, I'm going to lose unless I use that jutsu _Haku thought and started to form a series of hand seals.

Suddenly, ice mirrors surround Sasuke each with Haku on them. They all throw senbons towards Sasuke who can barely dodge them.

_He's from the Yuki clan _Kakashi thought observing Sasuke's battle while avoiding Zabuza's blade _this is a problem. Sasuke's not strong enough to defeat him yet._

"Heh he he, surprised Kakashi? You thought that the entire Yuki clan has been wiped out huh?! Turns out you're wrong. He's the last one of his kind." Zabuza commented while swinging his blade

"SASUKE!" Naruto cried running towards the ice mirror. While Zabuza's dealing with Kakashi, he feel pain on his hand and looked around. In his right, he saw the hooded figure who motioned his left.

Zabuza saw Naruto coming and motioned Haku to release his jutsu. The ice soon started to melt and Sasuke is on his knees with needles stabbing him on his arms and legs.

_I can't let Haku attack the Uchiha because the jinchuriki would step in and...__**that**__ person is here watching this_ Zabuza thought

Haku unconsicouly tried to stab Naruto using the senbon he held on his hand forgetting to avoid hurting the boy. Sasuke saw it coming and tackle Naruto backwards. However, Sasuke's not fast enough so Haku managed to stab Sasuke's thigh.

Sasuke cried out in pain. _He hit a nerve point_ Sasuke thought grabbing his thigh as he feels that it's starting to go numb to the point that he's unable to feel his leg.

"Sasuke... why?!" Naruto said looking at Sasuke with an expression of disbelief on his face

"Who knows..." Sasuke said still rubbing his thigh "I hated you"

"WHY?! I never asked you to!"

"My body moved on its own baka"

_At this rate, this fight will not end._ _Zabuza can't do anything except to attack Kakashi sensei. Haku can't attack either Naruto or Sasuke. _Sakura thought then observe her surrounding until she saw a figure hidden in the bushes. The figure pointed it's gloved finger towards someone and moved her hand across her neck with one instruction clear in Sakura's head.

"_**Kill the Yuki boy"**_

_That simple instructions would be so easy if only the four are unconscious _ Sakura thought while taking out a kunai

_Hopefully this plan works_ Sakura thought charging through Haku who dodged her attacks and tried to attack her with the senbon.

"_Shit! Haku, she's also a Haruno! _Zabuza thought trying to reach Haku but Kakashi blocked him, assuming that Zabuza's targetting his students. Both are fighting intensely until they heard a cry

"SAKURA!" Naruto cried when Sakura's body fall. Haku stood there looking shocked and confused at the same time .

S_he could have dodged the attack and senbon needle don't cause that many damage unless...she's trying to kill him by making the jinchuriki do it! _Zabuza thought and before he could warn Haku, orange chakra came out of Naruto.

"YOU KILL SAKURA CHAN !" Naruto growled as the orange chakra engulfed him. Sasuke took out the last senbon from his body and surprised to see the orange chakra around Naruto. _This chakra is really powerful! What is this! _ Sasuke thought. He looked forward and saw the hunter nin bending towards Sakura with his arm stretched out. Without thinking, he and Naruto charged forward.

Haku bend down to check on the girl's heartbeat. From far it looks as if she's dead especially with the mist. Before he could even touch her, Naruto charged forwards towards Haku quickly delivering a punch.

While Naruto is charging at Haku, Sasuke grabbed Sakura and from the senbon needle previously stabbed on his leg, he slide down through the remains of the ice while wrapping his arms around Sakura and together they slide further from the fight.

_..._

_My leg, he hit a vital point on my leg. It's painful to move it._ Sasuke thought while holding his leg. He looked at Sakura and observed that she's breathing and her face didn't look pale. _She's still alive _Sasuke thought and as he bend down trying to observe her wound, the sound of metal hitting the ground distracted him.

_It's coming from the right _Sasuke thought holding his kunai while he bend down near Sakura. As he tried to head towards where the noise comes from, the mist in the front starts to lessen revealing an army of men.

"Well well, the fight is not over yet" Gatou emerged looking at Sasuke and Sakura

Sasuke placed Sakura on his arms and give the man a cold glare. Gatou looked unnerved before giving a single order

"Get them"

Seven of the army of men charged forwards with different weapon in hand. Sasuke tried to dodge them but it's difficult while he's holding Sakura. He soon feel pain from his leg and he went down on his knees. A man then tried to swing his spear towards Sasuke but Sasuke managed to avoid it but he let go of Sakura in the process.

Someone grabbed Sakura and more men started to attack Sasuke. When he saw Sakura is being pulled away, suddenly he can anticipate the moves of the men in the front and two of the men on his sides. He blocked their moves and started to fight his way towards the men that held Sakura.

_This is the sharingan _Sasuke realized as he anticipated all their moves and blocked them. _I can't fight against them all with my injured leg, I have to get Sakura then get away from here. _Sasuke thought after charging the men towards the one with Sakura

The man positioned Sakura over his shoulder so both his hands are free and he attacked Sasuke using a blade. The pain on his leg keep disturbing him but Sasuke fight through it and dodged the attacks coming from the man. He used his uninjured leg to hoist himself from the ground and kick the man's temple causing him to have a concussion making Sasuke able to retreive Sakura and get her out of the army.

_My leg can't hold it anymore _Sasuke thought before he collapse as he ran carrying Sakura. The men now were surrounding him in all directions and it's useless for him to use his sharingan to anticipate their moves if he can't counter it. Sasuke pulled Sakura closer towards him protecting her in his arms as he braced himself from a man that's going to stab them using a blade.

Suddenly, the blade fell and the man's expression showed pain. He fell to the ground and winced in pain. Sasuke stayed there as he looked behind and as the men were trying to approach him and Sakura, they all dropped their weapons and fell on their knees. Sasuke noted that they all have different kinds of pain as some were holding their leg while others are holding their arms, heads, stomach, any possible place that might be the source of the pain.

"Sasuke..." Sasuke looked down and saw Sakura looking at him. She sat up and looked around where the one by one Gatou's men are in pain.

"WHAT'S GOING ON WITH ALL OF YOU! GET THEM!" Gatou yelled not understanding why his men are in pain. Half of his men are in the ground crying out from the pain while the other half are too scared to move towards Sasuke and Sakura thinking that they were the one causing it.

Sasuke looked at Sakura who observed the surrounding with a weird expression on her face. "We have to get out of here" that's all she said before getting up while holding her side that the senbon needle hit her previously.

"Can you stand?" Sasuke tried to stand but his leg is too painful so he sunk back. Sakura then place one of his arms around her neck and wrap one of her arms around his waist and tried to hoist him up. Together they swiftly left the men heading towards where Kakashi and the rest were.

As the two genins left, the men were no longer in pain but some of them are too heavily injured from the aftermatch and unable to fight.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN INJURED?! THE UCHIHA BRAT DIDN'T DO THIS, YOU ALL FELL ON YOUR KNEES IN PAIN ALL BY YOURSELF!" Gatou yelled

"Then how do you explain the bruises or scars that we received?!" one of the men cried while showing him his arms revealing bruises and scars with blood coming out of it.

From all those commotions, the hooded figure then left towards the same direction as the two genins leaving the scene.

...

Normal pov

"I won't forgive you for hurting both Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto cried as he keep lunging at Haku.

_There's red chakra surrounding him. Just...who is this kid?! _Haku thought moving swiftly to dodge Naruto's attack.

Naruto start to leap at Haku with his hands and legs positioned like a dog. His teeth start to grow fangs and his nails look like a wild animal's nails. Haku was about to positioned himself when Naruto charged towards him again but he lost Naruto.

_Where did that boy go? _Haku thought before being punched on his left. As Haku was thrown backwards and fell on his back, Naruto positioned himself on top of him and punched Haku's face as hard as he can cracking the mask.

As the pieces fell, the red chakra surrounding Naruto slowly starts to melt away in the air, his pupils turned back into blue and he lost the fangs on his teeth and long nails.

"Y-y-you're the person I met in the forest..."Naruto said surprised "Why would you do all this?!"

"Zabuza sama is a precious person to me" Haku began looking at Naruto with a sad expression

"When my father found out that my mother is from a well known clan, second strongest in the land of water known as the Yuki clan, he killed my mother after he finds out that I inherited the Ice release kekkei genkai and tried to kill me as well. Soon, I was left alone as he failed to do so. I have no place to go and left on the street. Zabuza sama saw me and took me in to be his tool."

" Tool? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked

" In this world, we shinobis are only tools bound to serve our master. Once we're broken, we're useless to them. Kill me Naruto" Haku finished

Naruto stood there in shock for a moment registering to what Haku has said "You're wrong...we shinobis are not tools, especially you... he must've cared for you. Even if Zabuza is a very cruel and sadistic shinobi, he must've..."

"Kill me Naruto" Haku cut in looking at Naruto straight in the eye with a sad expression "please"

Naruto moved a shaky hand towards his kunai and slowly made his way towards Haku

_I can't do this..._ Naruto thought as he was holding the kunai shaking and stopping in front of Haku

Suddenly, Haku saw something and moved quickly behind Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I have one final purpose to fulfill" Haku said before heading towards the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi

Naruto's about to follow Haku until he saw Sasuke being supported by Sakura heading towards him quickly as if they're getting away from something.

"Sasuke teme, Sakura chan are you both okay?" Naruto ran over to them

"We're fine dobe, but we need to get out of here before..."

A scream cut off what Sasuke's saying. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura who pointed with her finger three figures close together. As the mist starting to clear, Naruto and Sasuke could see clearly what happened.

Kakashi's right hand went through Haku who's in front of Zabuza. Bloods are dripping from Kakashi's hand.

Naruto without thinking started to run followed by a Sasuke walking briskly close by while Sakura stood there, her face evolving from an expression of horror seen by Naruto and Sasuke changed into an emotioneless one

...

"It's over now Zabuza" Kakashi said as Zabuza is being held by Kakashi's dog summons. Blue lightnings began to form on Kakashi's hand "This is the end for you"

As Kakashi thrust his hand towards Zabuza, Haku get in between them and Kakashi's hand hit him instead.

"Well done Haku" Zabuza said releasing himself from the dog summons and swing his blade towards Kakashi. _He didn't even hestitate to swing his blade even if it'll destroy the boy's dead body _Kakashi thought while moving backwards bringing Haku along with him.

"Is this how you treat your shinobi? Without remorse? Even after his death, you still have the capability to try kill me and destroying his body as well" Kakashi said outraged by Zabuza's behaviour

"He's already dead anyway" Zabuza said with a crazed look in his eyes

Naruto watching the entire exchange clench his hand with anger.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?! HAKU'S VERY LOYAL TOWARDS YOU, HE'D DO ANYTHING FOR YOU! DON'T YOU FEEL ANY REMORSE AT ALL?!" Naruto cried out

"Shut up" Zabuza growled, a tear suddenly fell from his eyes "You've said enough"

The bandage wrapped around Zabuza's face fell revealing skin.

"What's the matter blondie? Surprised that a demon like me could have the face of a human. You have no idea what kind of masks that the most evil and cruel demon would have" Zabuza said looking towards the pink girl standing far from where he is which goes unnoticed by Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi

"I might as well intervene" Gatou said as he made his entrance "I have no use for you anymore. I never planned to pay you anything. The bounty on your head is a large sum courtesy of the Haruno clan, I'm afraid that today is the day that you'll be dead"

As Gatou moved forwards, the mist starts to clear revealing an army of men.

"You son of a bitch" Zabuza growled clenching his hand

"Oh and..." Gatou started walking towards Haku and kick him "That's for breaking my arm the other day"

"Hey!" Naruto yelled and he's about to run towards Gatou until Kakashi held him down.

"Calm yourself Naruto, he's got an army with him" Kakashi said _Even though_ i_t's obvious that they've been to a fight previously before being here _Kakashi noted as he saw the scared expression on the men with the scars and bruises on their body.

"You eyebrowless freak! Say something!"

"Give me your kunai" Zabuza said

Naruto's ready to yell at him again but he didn't expect Zabuza to say that. Without thinking much, he threw Zabuza his kunai.

"You'll grow up into a strong shinobi someday" That's the last thing Zabuza said before putting the kunai in his mouth. Zabuza then started walking towards the army full of men and moving quickly killing a bunch of people until he reached Gatou.

Zabuza then landed a blow on Gatou's stomach which the older man started to yell curses at him.

"I will see you in hell" Zabuza said before cutting off Gatou's head and collapsing from the blows he received from the men.

...

"What you both see is the end of the life of a demon. Dying like this is very fitting of him but remember, even the strongest demon still have a flicker of emotion in them" Kakashi said solemnly to both Naruto and Sasuke. The three were joined by Sakura standing near them hearing everything that Kakashi have said.

"HEY!" the three turned and Gatou's army all riled up "our employer's dead and now all of you better step back so we could raid the village"

"We're not letting you do that" Naruto said forming his hand into seals "Kage bushin no jutsu"

Hundreds of Narutos appeared on the battlefield

_The dobe is the best at being reckless _Sasuke thought before preparing himself into a defensive stance

"So are we!" an arrow land between Team seven and Gatou's men

Everyone turned to where the voice comes from and saw the villagers all armed with Inari leading the pack.

"Kakashi sensei, you should help as well!" Naruto said

_My chakra's finished, I can't do much _Kakashi thought _but it doesn't mean I can't fool them_

"Kage bushin no jutsu"

Hundreds of Kakashi appeared on the battle

_It's useless for me to do this jutsu, the clones won't be able to fight and they'll be gone soon _Kakashi thought _hopefully they'll fall for it_

Gatou's men started to run out of the village

"We win!" Inari cheered with the villagers and they all left back to their village joined by Tazuna.

Team seven walked away from the commotion towards where Zabuza's body lay.

"I wanted to see him one last time" Zabuza said

Kakashi carried Zabuza's body towards where Haku lay and put him next to Haku

"Haku..."

Kakashi first left motioning his team to follow him. After the four figure is nowhere to be seen, the hooded figure emerged and knelt beside Zabuza who noticed the presence of someone else next to him

"Your plan for killing Haku failed" Zabuza started "Eventually he died by protecting me but your plan on having him killed by the jinchuriki's hand didn't work"

The figure said nothing and get up looking towards the horizon

"It's better this way, that boy still remains pure" Zabuza said about Naruto

"For now" the figure replied

"What's going to happen now? Are you going to drag my dying body to the clan?" Zabuza asked mockingly

"That won't be necessary" the figure stated "my order is to bring you back alive so when we reach there you'll probably be dead which renders you useless. Even if you're still alive until then, you won't be a good use to them anymore"

Zabuza then released his final breath. The hooded figure still stand there until team seven is heading it's way.

_I think I saw someone standing here just now _Kakashi thought before interrupted by Naruto

"Kakashi sensei can we at least bury the two of them before we left?" Naruto asked looking at Zabuza and Haku sadly

"That's what I was thinking" Kakashi said forgetting his earlier thoughts and blaming it on chakra depletion " I know just the place"


	10. Chapter 10

Normal pov

_Feels good to be back in Konoha _Naruto thought observing the scenery _I hope Zabuza stays together with Haku in the afterlife_

"Naruto nii chan" Naruto turned to find Konohamaru standing with two of his friends

"Hey Konohamaru, I can't talk now I have to go to the examination hall to submit my chuunin registeration form"

"Who're those two people with you Naruto nii chan?" Konohamaru asked motioning Sasuke and Sakura

"The lame guy is Sasuke teme while the girl is Sakura chan" Naruto said which earned him a glare from Sasuke

"Is Sakura chan your girlfriend Naruto nii?" Konohamaru teasingly asked

_It's awkward if I said that Sakura chan's my girlfriend, she's a close friend_

"No, she's just a teammate" Naruto said before adding "besides, she looks better with Sasuke teme over there because Sasuke's blue and Sakura's pink"

As soon as Naruto said the last sentence, Moegi started to integgorate Sakura on how she got the most good looking genin in which Sakura replied by looking at Sasuke in disgust while both Konohamaru and Udon were joking on how a pretty girl like Sakura who can have any boy she wanted could fall for a robot like Sasuke which earned them a glare from the said-robot.

"HA HA HA" Naruto can't stop laughing from Sakura, Konohamaru and Udon's expression when Moegi announced that she's going to dye her hair pink just like Sakura's to attract guys like Sasuke, even Sasuke seemed disturbed.

"Dobe" Sasuke muttered before walking away

"Oi teme! Where are you going? Sasuke teme don't ignore me!" Naruto yelled

"That's okay boss, if he's gone we can ask his girlfriend embarrassing things about him" Konohamaru said giving Naruto a thumbs up which did not go unnoticed by Sasuke

As soon as the word girlfriend comes out of Konohamaru's mouth, Sasuke gives him a glare which causes Konohamaru to run

"Ooof" Konohamaru bumped into someone who soon grabbed him as if he weigh less than a puppy

"Well what do we have here? A brat huh?" a boy with Kabuki paint on his face said

"Give it up Kankuro, we don't have time to play around" a girl with four pigtails stated to the boy "I already wasted my energy with that panda bear just now"

"I don't know how we're related seeing that you're really boring Temari" Kankuro said which causing Temari to get angry and before she could retalliate, a voice distract their attention

"Konohamaru!" Naruto cried running towards the two strangers with Moegi and Udon tailing after him

"Naruto nii chan" Konohamaru whimpered scared of the boy lifting him

"Release Konohamaru, now!" Naruto said in a low but harsh tone pressing every word

Kankuro smirked and instead lifted Konohamaru higher which causes him to wriggle

"You better release him, you don't want to start an international crisis for messing with the Hokage's grandson do you?" everyone turned towards Sakura who said it in a warning tone with Sasuke walking slowly towards them twirling a rock in his hands giving Kankuro a cold glare.

_Show off _Sakura thought looking at Sasuke crushing the rock with his bare hand

_The Hokage's grandson?! _Kankuro thought before lowering then putting down Konohamaru who scramble on his feet hiding behind Naruto

_He's quite good looking _Temari observed Sasuke

_So far, the hottest chick I've ever seen in my life _Kankurou thought ogling at Sakura

"You're an embarrassment Kankuro" a voice said among the trees. The branches then began to part revealing a short boy with red auburn hair and kanji on his face.

...

Naruto's pov

As soon as that boy emerged, the two foreign shinobis look a bit scared.

"G-g-gaara" the make up dude stammered

He has this cold expression on his face similar to Sasuke teme but he's surrounded by this intense and dark aura. His forehead protector is different than ours, I sort of forget what village it represents, sometimes I fell asleep in Iruka sensei's class. Should I ask them about it? Nah, that'll be embarrasing, they're gonna think I'm an idiot. I better wait until either Sasuke or Sakura bring it up

"What's shinobis from Sunagakure doing here?" Sakura asked

SUNAGAKURE! THAT'S IT! THANK YOU SAKURA CHAN!

"We have a perfectly good reason for being here" make up dude said while eyeing Sakura, he obviously have a thing for her. Sakura instead ignored him and seem to be more interested in observing the creepy panda eyed boy. HAHAHA SUCKS FOR YOU MAKE UP DUDE! GO SAKURA CHAN!

The fan lady is checking Sasuke out which wasn't that surprising even though I don't see what's soo great about him. Like Sakura chan, he also ignored her. I can't help but feel sorry for the fan girl but hopefully she won't be too sad if she realized that she's not the only one.

"So what are you all doing here again?" I tried to ask, after all make up dude is too busy ogling at Sakura to answer just now

"We're here for the chuunin exam"

Surprisingly, it's creepy panda eyed guy who answered my question. The chuunin exam? So they're our competitors. After we came back from our mission, Kakashi sensei give us a form to participate in the chuunin exam. This means there're lots of strong guys in this exam, like Sasuke, make up dude and creepy panda eyed guy.

I look over at Sasuke teme and saw him starting to observe them. He's probably already determined to test himself against the creepy panda eyed guy.

After I observe him for a moment, he looks scary especially his eyes, they look terrifying as if he's hungry for bloodshed. It's similar to Zabuza's when he's looking at Gatou.

I don't know when but I start to realize the atmosphere is getting quiet. I look around and saw everyone looking at us. The makeup dude and fan lady looks scared and nervous about something while Sasuke and Sakura look wary. Even Konohamaru and his two friends look terrified. It's too quiet, no one said anything! It's really awkward and I can't stand the silence so I decided to break it.

"HI! I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO DATTEBAYO! WELCOME TO KONOHA SUNA GUYS!" I said to the creepy panda eyed boy. Maybe it wasn't the best move. The fan lady and make up dude look even more terrified, in fact I can see the make up dude sweating and it sort of ruined his face paint a bit. Konohamaru and his two friends also seemed surprised.

I was about to look at Sasuke teme and Sakura chan's reaction until a voice stopped me.

"I'm Sabaku no Gaara"

...

Normal pov

Silence soon fill the air after that encounter until Kankuro breaks it

"So how about the three of you show us where the examination registration building is?" Kankuro asked

"We're just about to go there anyway" Sasuke replied

"Great! This means we can all go together!" Kankurou said too excitedly while looking at Sakura

"I agree" Temari said trying to act indifferent but the corner of her eyes is looking toward Sasuke's direction

"We'll be getting along then..." Konohamaru said to Naruto and run off with two of his friends. Naruto can't help but note how Konohamaru seemed really scared when he said it.

_Those sand nins must've scared him_ Naruto thought noticing Kankuro next.

The walk to the building isn't really quiet. Kankuro's trying to get close to Sakura by bragging to Sakura about himself

"I'm one of the selected individuals who're choosen to take the exam. Our village may not send much this year but the ones that they sent are certainly the strongest of the strongest.."

It goes on and on to the point that Temari started laughing when Kankuro reaches the topic of having a flock of fangirls back in Suna muttering something like _in his own fantasies maybe _towards Kankuro. But after a while she stopped listening to what he's saying and started to pay attention towards Sasuke.

Naruto started yawning when Kankuro launches into his tale of how he's really good at calculations where a butcher almost overcharged a lady with a piece of meat and he's able to inform the lady about it.

_Sakura chan must really have a high level of patience, I already stopped listening after the first five minutes _Naruto thought looking at the bored and slightly annoyed female. Little did Naruto know but right now Sakura's not even listening to what Kankuro's saying

Even Sasuke's disturbed expression made it clear that he wished Kankuro's lip would glue itself to stop talking especially when Kankuro mentioned he have acute senses and right after he said that, a cat jumped in front of him causing him to produce a highly pitched girl scream.

Gaara didn't say anything throughout the way and he's not even looking at the scenery. Naruto noted that his eyes look like they didn't see anything around him, as if he's thinking about something else. Naruto himself didn't comment much throughout the journey. He's too busy observing Gaara.

When they arrived, they're told to go to the third floor where they saw a crowd of genins forming a circle watching some sort of fight.

"Give it up, we took the chuunin exam last year and failed. You're all still too weak to participate" a guy with bandages covering some part of his face said to someone crouched up in the floor wearing a green spandex.

"Please just let us pass" the guy in the green spandex said

"Or let go of that genjutsu of yours" Sasuke said to the two genins guarding the door. After he said that, the room is already filled with mutterings

"What's he talking about?"

"What genjutsu"

"He's soo handsome"

The two genins looked surprised for a moment before dispelling the genjutsu

"Even though you can anticipate that genjutsu, you can't anticipate this" the guy with the hoodie said aiming a punch towards Sasuke who tried to counter it with a kick of his own.

Before they clash, the guy in green spandex moved in between them and block their attacks with his hands.

_He blocked my kick with his own arm, he's definitely not the weak guy we saw just now_ Sasuke thought looking at the green spandex guy

_Whoa! He's fast _Naruto thought

Gaara's looking at the scene with a scary expression.

_He's getting excited, in a bad way. Please don't kill anyone right here _Kankuro silently hoped

Among the crowd, a pale eyed guy approaches them.

"Lee, you're the one that said not to draw attention to us and now you're the one causing it" the guy accused looking at Sasuke "and I thought Tenten will be the one doing something stupid and reckless"

"Hey! Neji! I never do anything reckless" a female voice is heard from the other side of the hall causing everyone to turn

Neji simply just looked at Tenten for a long time before she finally gives up

"Okay maybe some..." Neji raised his eyebrows "alright! Most of the time, happy now?" Tenten finishes with an annoyed expression

Lee started to walk towards Naruto and everyone else heading towards Sakura

"May the power of youth bloom with you! I'm Rock Lee, do you want to go out with me?" Lee said excitedly with a big smile on his face showing his perfectly white teeth while doing a thumbs up

Before Sakura could even say something someone else did

"Why would she go out with you?! You're a loser compared to me" Kankuro said which causes Lee to keep hitting his head on the wall

"EWWW LEE! Stop hitting on Sakura, she's like my sister" Tenten exclaimed

"Leave it to you to cause the biggest ruckus in the building Tenten" Sakura said causing each of their teammates to look surprised

"SAKURA CHAN/ TENTEN SAN YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER?" Naruto and Lee said at the same time towards their respective male teammates

"HA! And you said that I cause the biggest ruckus in the building" Tenten said excitedly pointing at Sakura like a six year old girl doing an in-your-face to her friend causing Sakura to roll her eye at her best friend's childishness

_They must be really close _Naruto remarked suddenly remembering something _she must be the girl that sometimes I saw on the street with Sakura chan_

"YOU!" Temari shouted pointing a finger at Tenten

"Oh it's the fan lady" Tenten said while glaring at Temari

"You've met?" Sakura asked Tenten

"At Yakiniku Q" Tenten answered still glaring then said to Sakura"it was a long story really"

"You little twerp!" Temari said as she's about to grab her fan until she saw Kankuro who shakes his head motioning towards Gaara

_I better stop before I give a reason for Gaara to injure or kill anyone before the exam _Temari though

"YOU STARTED IT FIRST!" Tenten accused

"It's not my fault if you and him" Temari pointed towards Lee who's still banging his head on the wall "sucks at everything so the manager threw you guys out!"

"No one complained until you came along" Tenten argued

"They must be deaf"

"OH they will be if they hear your wailing!" Tenten shouted which started the screaming match between her and Temari

"THAT'S IT!" Temari yelled taking out her fan "You want some fat bear ?!"

"Bring it on porcupine head!" Tenten said preparing herself in a fighting stance

Before both could attack each other a scream distract their attention

"SASUKEEE" Ino screamed as she launched herself into his back

"Mendokuse, she drag us all the way here so she could cling into him"

"Shut up Shikamaru!"

_Is there anything more chaotic than this _Sasuke thought looking around before noticing Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata and Shino heading towards them _oh wait, there is_

"Heh Naruto! Thinking about signing up? You won't even last in the first round" Kiba mock

"OH YEAH?! I'LL REMEMBER TO BEAT YOU IN THE FIRST ROUND KIBA!"

"What's the fatso even doing here?" Kankuro mocked towards Chouji who started to go towards him until Shino blocked him

"You almost stepped on it" Shino gestured to the bug on the ground

Chouji glared at Shino and Kankuro murderously and the room suddenly becomes silent

"What's up with him" Kiba asked Shikamaru

"Yakiniku Q is closed because I heard that someone started a food fight there" Shikamaru yawned

Sakura look at Tenten who grinned and an angry Temari shouting at her which causes their fight to rage on.

"Well Sakura, seems like Sasuke's not so interested in you so you might as well give up" Ino smirked still wrapping her arms around an annoyed Sasuke

"You are soo welcome to borrow him until the next like five years Ino" Sakura said which makes Sasuke glare at her and Ino shocked

Hinata looks around her where Tenten and Temari is still glaring daggers at each other, Sakura smirking towards an enraged Ino with her hands wrapped to an annoyed Sasuke, Lee still banging his head on the wall, Shino still in the middle of Kankuro and Chouji, Gaara observing the chaos isolating himself from them and finally, towards Naruto arguing with Kiba.

She keep on looking at him until she feels someone is looking at her. She turned and saw Neji glaring coldly at her. Hinata can't bear to look at him so she tried to distract her attention by looking at somewhere else but she still feel his gaze from her back.

_Neji nii-san _Hinata thought sadly until she's interrupted by Ino complaining over something or rather someone

"Look at her!" Hinata looked towards Sakura who's now in a glaring battle with Sasuke "She thinks she's all high and mighty that she can say that she's not interested in Sasuke. She's probably just begging for attention and..."

Hinata stopped listening to Ino's rant as she's observing Sakura. Hinata keep on fiddling with the edge of her coat until Sakura turned towards her and Hinata turned back quickly.

_Those eyes_ Hinata thought trying to listen to Ino's rants "just like the other day Ami started to comment on her hair and..."

Suddenly, the speaker in the building gives an announcement

"ALL THE KONOHA GENINS ABOUT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHUUNIN EXAM PLEASE HEAD TO THE MAIN ROOM RIGHT NOW!"


	11. Chapter 11

"ALL THE KONOHA GENINS ABOUT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHUUNIN EXAM PLEASE HEAD TO THE MAIN ROOM RIGHT NOW!"

Normal pov

"What's going on" Kiba asked

"Heh mendokuse"

"Later _bear chan_" Temari smirked

Tenten started to lunge towards Temari until Sakura held her down.

"You're too polite to lunge into a stranger much less someone from another village Tenten!" Sakura commented with Tenten still squirming in her arms "Let's go"

Soon, the four teams made their way to the main room. The room is filled with many Konoha shinobis, especially in teams.

"Geez, I didn't know so many genins from our village would participate..." Naruto commented looking around

"Scared Naruto?" Kiba taunted

"As if, you're the one that should be!" Naruto shot back

"What did you do that causes a restaurant to close?!" Sakura interrogate Tenten

"Why did you assume that it's me? It could be someone else" Tenten answered trying to act innocent which is seen right away by Sakura

"It's always you"

"Okay fine! But she started it" Sakura groaned after Tenten said it

"The girl needs a life"

"ALRIGHT! SETTLE DOWN PLEASE EVERYONE" a man with black shades and spiky hair announced to the crowd. Beside him is a man with scars from his nose running down towards the left side of his face.

"Because this year there are a large number of participants applying for the chuunin exam, we don't have enough for all of you. So we're going to held a special exam among Konoha genins only that never participated in the chuunin exam. The team that pass will be allowed to join the exam."

There are several murmurs heard in the crowd but no one object.

_This is an advantage for me, I could see what level my competitors are _Sasuke thought looking at all the genins

"However, there is a special rule to this test" everyone goes silent after Raido (the guy with the scar) said before continuing "Only two of your teammates are allowed to participate. So one member of your team has to sit this one out. The one not participating would most preferrably be the weakest member of your team"

After he announced it, the hall is filled with noises as each team is discussing which one will be fighting and which one will not.

"For those two who will participate please go towards the right side and those who don't go towards the left side" Aoba announced dividing the genins into two group

Surprisingly majority of the genins not participating are guys with the exception of Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Tenten, and five other females

"Oh and if you think that by leaving the strongest one in your team as the person who won't participate so their abilities won't be discovered is a stupid mistake. You won't get to showcase it if you're already disqualified in this test" Aoba added "Now it's the last chance to change your decisions"

As soon as he said that, the guys that are not joining in the first place asked to switch with their teammates which causes all the genins not participating to be all girls.

"Okay then, those who are participating please follow me and those who are not, stay with Aoba" Raido announced leading all the males to a long tunnel

Naruto stay close to Sasuke and after they passed through the tunnel, they are asked to go up the stairs to the top.

_Two floors _Naruto wondered and after he reached the top, he realized that he's standing in the audience's part of the arena. Naruto look around and saw the other genins also confused.

"Sasuke... what's going on" Naruto asked to Sasuke who's also looking around not noticing Naruto's question

Then, some genins started pointing towards the arena causing both Naruto and Sasuke look downwards.

In the arena are all the girls that are not participating in the exam along with Sakura who also look confused as to why they're there.

"We forgot to tell you that this test will not be done for the ones on top who is considered the stronger ones in the group, but this will be done on the weakest member" Aoba announced with Raido next to him

_WHAT! _Naruto thought looking at Sakura who's equally shocked. The entire crowd is also surprised at this turn of event.

"There's no way she could make it"

"Dammit, we should've not changed"

"We're gonna lose"

Most of the male shinobis started complain stating that their female comrade isn't strong enough and the girls are panicking as well.

"Sasuke teme, do you think Sakura chan can handle it?" Naruto asked

Sasuke looks at Sakura before replying "I don't know"

And for once, those two have the same thought about something

...

While Naruto, Sasuke and the other boys are upstairs observing their female teammates, Sakura is with Tenten who's still shocked with the announcement.

"What. Just. Happened?" Tenten asked pressing every word

Before Sakura could say anything, someone comes up behind her

"Wow, turns out pinky is still trying to prove her worth"

"Ami" Sakura muttered looking at the purple haired girl with two girls tagging along

"Don't be too sad that Sasuke or even Naruto out of all people would ditch you" Ami arrogantly stated to Sakura "What's the matter? Can't go in a battlefield all by yourself?"

"When are you going to start?" Sakura countered motioning towards the two girls behind her causing some snickers among the surrounding girls

"WHY YOU!" Amy face turns red and started to go towards Sakura until she noticed someone behind her

"Hinata Hyuuga as well?! This must be some sort of circus inside the exam"

"AMI!" Everyone turned and saw Ino striding towards Amy with an angry expression ready to kill.

"And the PIG!" Amy finished with putting her finger on her nose forming a pig nose and the two girls following her.

"Sakura you know her?" Tenten asked

"Not really, just a girl used to be in my class" Sakura said looking at both Ino and Ami exchanging insults towards each other which is also noticed by all of the boys now

"UGLY HAG!"

"PIG!"

"UGLY HAG!"

"PIG!"

"Enough you both!" Aoba said silencing them both "The match will start soon so I'll go over the rules"

The girls stopped fighting and started paying attention to Aoba, the boys are also listening

"This match will have three rounds. This will be the first round. For this round, this is a tag team challenge, you are required to find a partner. There's twenty of you so there'll be ten teams of two" Aoba said "I'll give you five minutes to find a partner starting for now"

The girls started to move around finding partners. Tenten and Sakura partnered up together along with Ino and Hinata.

After five minutes is up, all the girls are partnered up.

"Alright, the first challenge is sixty minutes and you will have to go through some sort of an obstacle course. There are two locations for the obstacle course, one is on water" Aoba motioned on his left to a pond that suddenly appeared from scrolls that the chuunins set up similar like weapon summon"and the other is on land" he then motioned to his right to what appears to be some sort of an obstacle course with climbing walls, mud tracks and many more.

_This is going to be easy _Tenten thought as she saw the climbing wall until the two walls started to smash each other and reverse back towards it's original positon _or not_

"But... there's a twist to this" Aoba said "This is a tag team challenge"

There are some murmurs after Aoba said it

"You both will decide on who will do the land challenge and who will do the water challenge. One person per partner can only do one challenge either land or water. For example, the first partner does the challenge, while she's doing that, the second partner will have to wait until the first partner completed an obstacle from their assigned category, land or water, and after the first partner finishes, they will have to high five or touch their partner for the second partner to do their challenge. Is that clear?" Aoba finishes

Some girls look a bit nervous and uncertain

"Why did those obstacle course has numbers written on them" a girl asked

"As you can see, there are numbers written on each of the obstacle course for example, that climbing wall has the number ten written on it similar to that whirlpool in that pool" Aoba motioned "All of you are going to be graded by the points you earned for completing the challenges. There are around fifteen challenges on each category so for example, you completed the climbing wall, you and your partner earned ten points and another girl completed that hurdle, she only earned three points. Each challenge is marked according to their difficulty level."

Most of the girls are starting to get scared and their male teammates are now thinking that they're not going to pass.

"From this challenge, we will only select twelvepeople to pass so only six teams are allowed to pass. There is no requirements for how many points you're going to have to earn but we will only get the top six points. Each team will have a chuunin to supervise them and tally the team's score. This red line that I'm standing on right now will be the meeting point between the partners where you'll tap your partner for either you and your partner to go and the waiting point as well and remember, you can only participate in one challenge once so if you already completed a challenge, you are not able to do it the second time round. And for those going for the water category, on the wall there are some signs with the challenges names, points and instructions written on them and make sure to read them correctly. For the land category, instructions and points are written on the challenge itself. That's all and good luck, you're going to need it" Aoba finishes adding the last part after he look at the horrified faces of some of the girls

"Great" Sakura muttered

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Read and reviews pls


	12. Chapter 12

"Alright now we'll give five minutes for you and your partner to discuss who should do the land and water category. Five minutes starts now" Aoba finishes heading over towards Raido

The girls then stand near the red line discussing among pairs

"Which one are your comfortable with?" Tenten asked Sakura

"It's not the matter of being comfortable or not but which one among the two of us has the greatest chance of excelling in the category"

"I'm guessing that I get land"

"Yeah I was thinking about that since you major in taijutsu so it's more useless if you're in the water" Sakura said observing the challenges "you better start dealing with the easy ones first like the twenty five lap and target shooting, leave the hard one for later but if the easy ones are full, I recommend the climbing wall. You're fast enough"

"Got it" Tenten said looking determined

"Are you comfortable with water" Ino asked Hinata

"Not particularly" Hinata stated "but neither are you"

"I'm a better swimmer swimmer than you so I'll be in the water" Ino said getting nervous

"I hate to admit it but you're right" Hinata weakly said

...

"Who do you think is the biggest competitor?"

"The girl with the bun seems strong, look at her arms, they're toned"

"Isn't she the one fighting the sand kunoichi just now"

"That's her"

"Did you see the pink haired girl?"

"Yeah, prettiest one in the pack"

"Didn't look as strong as the bun one but seems clever enough to survive in the challenge"

"The blonde one is also a beauty"

"Looks like a bimbo though"

"Probably won't make it"

"She's with a Hyuuga"

"The Hyuuga's not so powerful, she used to be in my class, really shy"

The boys on top began to make bets on the top six.

"Sakura's partnered with bushy brow's teammate" Naruto said to Sasuke who's looking at Neji. Lee notices this and **dragged **Neji towards Naruto and Sasuke much to his dismay

"Our youthful teammates decided to put their personal grudges aside and teamed up to win! MAY THE POWER OF YOUTH BURN WITHIN THEM!"

"LEE! STOP EMBARRASSING US!" Tenten screamed earning everybody's attention

"Errr Sasuke..." Naruto started but noticed Sasuke and Neji glaring at each other

"What's your name" Neji asked arrogantly

"I'm not obligned to tell you that"

"Sasuke sasuke sasuke! What's soo good about him?!" Naruto bitterly commented

"Dobe, this is clan rivalry" Sasuke stated still glaring at Neji

"Why you?!" Neji started

"That's enough you both" the four turned to find Kakashi holding his orange book while looking at them "both your female teammates are working together so I expect you both will"

"THE FLAME BURNS WITHIN THE TWO! I'M PROUD OF TENTEN" Gai strongly commented with Lee looking with admiration

"ALRIGHT FIVE MINUTES' UP!"

...

"OH AND BEFORE I FORGET, AFTER SIXTY MINUTES YOU MUST BE WITH YOUR PARTNER OTHERWISE YOUR SCORE WON'T BE RECORDED, LAND GOES FIRST SO THE MATCH WILL BEGIN...NOW!"

Tenten, Hinata and other female shinobis started running while their partners stayed and watch

"YOU AND YOUR PARTNERS ARE ALLOWED TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER"

"Ten, go to the target shooting!"

"Hinata, try the hit-the-dummy!"

The water category partners are shouting orders on which challenge their partner will have to do

Hinata finishes first and earn three points

"C'mon Hinata!"

Hinata run and hit Ino's hand making Ino run towards the water hurdle earning five points

"Get ready Sakura!"

After Tenten tag Sakura, she run towards the water whirlpool earning ten points

The game continues on back and forth and a chuunin would accompany each girl as she go through her obstacle recording the points she earned for her team.

...

_Just two more lap _Tenten thought going out of breath, Ami following close behind her.

Ami then put out her leg tripping Tenten

"OWWW" Tenten yelped cluching her calf "HEY THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Nothing states that on the rule! Ask the examinor" Ami said smirking

"Damn we forgot to put that in the rule" Aoba said to Raido

"Ten! Are you okay?" Sakura asked

"I'll be fine" Tenten said with gritted teeth "Only two more"

Tenten tried to stand up but she wobbled. She run the last two laps slowly and limped towards Sakura

"Go Sakura!" Tenten said after she tag Sakura who didn't head into the pool "go on"

"Your leg..."

"Hurry" Tenten started shoving Sakura into the water

Tenten continues to hold her leg, gritting her teeth from the pain. She make sure Sakura didn't look at her when she's doing that. Hinata saw Tenten and after she tag Ino, she approaches Tenten and activated her byakugan

"What are you doing?" Tenten asked

Hinata didn't answer her question and hit Tenten's calf earning a scream from her

...

"Is she trying to injure her?"

"Sabotage probably"

The shinobis started to notice the scene and most come to the conclusion that Hinata is trying to cripple Tenten making it difficult for her and Sakura

"What is she doing?" Naruto asked worriedly

Neji look at the scene with an intense gaze towards Hinata

Tenten right now was lying on the ground holding her ankle crying out in pain

Sasuke look towards Sakura who started to turn back and head towards Tenten

_What is she doing?! Time is running out _Sasuke thought

"STOP!" Tenten yelled towards Sakura "I'm fine! Go on Sakura!"

"FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT" Aoba announced

Sakura hover in the water for a while looking at Tenten and around the water challenges then she stopped, her gaze focused on something. Sasuke followed her eye and saw what she's staring at

_No, she wouldn't. It's too dangerous _Sasuke thought

_Fifteen minutes left, if she chooses an easier challenge, she'll finish quicker and has to tag Tenten who's incapacitated, on top of that her points are the roughly the same with others. She has no choice_ Kakashi thought noticing Sakura and Tenten

"She has no other choice" Kakashi said which was heard by both Sasuke and Neji

Sasuke thought for a moment and realized what Kakashi meant.

"Naruto" Sasuke called

Naruto then followed Sasuke's gaze towards Sakura and soon, he understand what he meant

"No... Sakura, SAKURA DON'T!" Naruto cried to Sakura who's heading towards something

_The waterfall challenge _Neji thought _twenty points which is the highest point among the other challenges and the most deadly._

"KAKASHI SENSEI YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS" Naruto panickly said

"Indeed, if she fall towards the right, she's sucked into the whirlpool, to the left, rocks would probably hit her and if she fall on the wrong position, it could break her neck no matter how deep the water is" Kakashi stated "No surprise that no one else went through this challenge before"

"YOSH! SAKURA CHAN IS SOO EXCITED AND FULL OF ENERGY TO WANT A CHALLENGE LIKE THAT! WE MUST CHEER HER ON!" Lee excitedly said

"ARE YOU CRAZY! SHE COULD DIE!" Naruto shot at Lee

"NOOO, MY SAKURA CHAN IS A BLOOMED FLOWER, SHE CAN DO IT!" Lee said with fire in his eyes "ISN'T THAT RIGHT GAI SENSEI?"

Gai looks on in silence

"I'm afraid what Naruto said might be true" Gai said to Lee

"NOO SAKURA CHAN!" Lee cried

_The waterfall challenge, you need to climb to the top of the waterfall with two gold weight on each hand on a shape of a gold coin and ring the bell on top. The waterfall itself is as tall as the Hokage office. Twenty points_ Sasuke thought looking at Sakura who just arrived below the waterfall

...

Sakura grabbed the two lead weight with strings to help carry them and observed the water fall.

_Rocky edges over the water, hopefully it's not too slippery for me to hold on to _Sakura thought wrapping the two lead weight each on her arms and grabbed on the rocks behind the waterfall.

She managed to hold on for five seconds before falling back towards the water

_The water is too strong, almost impossible to use the rock to climb up especially with the weight holding me back unless... _Sakura thought before she come up with something _five minutes is gone, I only have ten minutes left._

Sakura started to hold the weight and shove them towards the rocks behind the water to use as grips

_Luckily the rocks have a huge gap between each other and this gold isn't soo thick _Sakura thought as she started to slowly but steadily climb up

...

"She's going up" Kiba said in amazement

"Clever of her to use the weight as grips" Kurenai commented

"Ten minutes is probably isn't enough for her" Shikamaru stated

"This is really exciting" Chouji started to eat more vigorously

"Innovative student you have there Kakashi" Raido said towards Kakashi

"GO SAKURA!" Naruto cheereed "YOU CAN DO IT!"

_Dobe, didn't he realize that one mistake she could die_ Sasuke thought hoping that it didn't happen

"SAKURA ARE YOU CRAZY?! I TOLD YOU I'M FINE"

Everyone turned their head and saw Tenten, **standing up** perfectly fine with no evidence that her leg's been injured just now

Naruto turned towards Hinata who looked up and saw him. They made eye contact for a brief second before she quickly look away avoiding his gaze and look at the ground.

"Kakashi sensei, did Hinata heal her?" Naruto asked Kakashi

"It seems so"

Sasuke heard Naruto's question and saw Neji clenching the railing tightly until his knuckles turned white

...

_Almost there _Sakura thought gritting her teeth in pain from the water hitting her and the tension on her arms

Meanwhile, Ino just finishes her last obstacle and head towards Hinata

"Only five minutes left so I don't think we have enough time for you to do another challenge" Ino said while panting "Hinata?"

Ino followed Hinata's gaze and saw Sakura almost reaching the top of the waterfall

_Unbelievable _Ino thought and she saw other girls looking at Sakura with an expression of either amazement, anger, hatred and jealousy. It didn't take her long to figure out that she's looking at Sakura with the last of the expression.

Ino turned to Hinata and expect to see Hinata with one of the expressions the other girls have but Hinata has an unreadable expression on her. The first time Hinata met Sakura, showed a bit of terror on her eyes when she first saw Sakura and now her eyes are the same with that first encounter.

_As if, there's something that Hinata know that I don't _Ino thought for a moment before she's distracted by Tenten's yelling

"You fix her leg?" Ino asked Hinata who tore her eyes from Sakura

"Yes"

"Why? It could make her lose on the second round"

"I wanted to win fair and square" Hinata replied looking at the ground "I hope you're okay with that"

"It's a good thing for you to do" Ino said "Besides, she might be useful to get rid of Ami in the next round. After all, Ami's the one that caused that injury" she finishes with a smirk

Hinata look at Ino for a second before smiling softly and suddenly, the crowd started cheering as the bell sound is heard. Sakura completed the challenge.

...

"ONE MINUTE LEFT! YOU BETTER BE WITH YOUR PARTNER OTHERWISE YOUR FINAL SCORE WON'T BE RECORDED!"

"SAKURA HURRY!" Tenten screamed feeling really nervous

"She's not going to make it" Kiba said looking at Sakura at the top of the waterfall which is soo far to Tenten "less than one minute"

"This is really exciting" Chouji said as he's stuffing his mouth with chips

"She can make it" Shikamaru said observing the scene

"Really? How about a bet Nara?" Kiba said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes "Loser treats winner and his team to barberque"

"This is pointless" Shino stated bluntly

"Heh mendokuse"

"Scared?" Kiba taunted

"You're going to lose"

"Okay it's on" Kiba said

"SHE DID IT!" Naruto cheered

"She still needs to return dobe" Sasuke said

"HURRY SAKURA CHAN!"

Sasuke watch Sakura looking at the water below

"THIRTY SECONDS TO GO"

_She'll think of something, she always does _Sasuke thought before wondering why he's so sure on her abilities. Suddenly some girls cried out in shock and the boys becomes silent as Sakura just jumped into the whirlpool

"SAKURA CHAN!" Naruto cried and he's about to step down into the field but Kakashi managed to hold him back

"Naruto! You're not allowed to intervene" Kakashi said calmly as he's holding a squirming Naruto

"WE HAVE TO SAVE HER! SHE'S IN TROUBLE!"

Sasuke himself is also tempted to jump into the whirlpool

"TEN SECONDS LEFT"

"SAKURA!" Tenten cried happily as Sakura emerged at the edge of the pool and started to run towards Tenten

"FIVE"

Sakura's halfway towards the line where the rest of the girls are

"FOUR"

Tenten stretches her hand towards Sakura

"THREE"

Sakura stretches her hand

"TWO"

Their fingers touch

"ONE AND STOP"

Sakura slammed into Tenten, wet and panting heavily. Tenten started hugging Sakura and the two started laughing.

"I told you I'm fine" Tenten said between the laugh

"At least we got twenty points"

"SAKURA!" Naruto cried happily

Sakura looked up and beamed at him, she then saw Sasuke and gives a smile that says _Don't underestimate me _surprising him, when she's not looking he smirked. Tenten gives Lee a thumbs up and a mock salute towards Neji amusing him.

"Looks like you lost Kiba" Shikamaru said with a gleam on his eyes to a speechless Kiba "good luck paying for Chouji"

She jumped into the whirlpool and uses the current there to propel herself into the shore Asuma thought Shikamaru can see it as well, looks like my team's not the only one with a strategist

"ALRIGHT, AFTER TALLYING UP YOUR SCORES WE'LL ANNOUCE THE TWELVE TEAMS PASSING" Raido annouced

He started listing names until "Team seven"

"YEAH!" Naruto pumped his fist in air and jumped down towards Sakura "NOT ONLY WE PASSED BUT WE GET THE HIGHEST!"

"Why are you so happy? You're not the one competing" Sasuke said angering Naruto

"Think you can do better?" Sakura mocked

"Yes" Sasuke fired back

"I'd like to see you try doing it on five minutes" Sakura said pointing towards the waterfall

Naruto started laughing when Sasuke's trying to come up with something to say so he instead pretended to focus on something else

"Alright, as much as I like to see you're all excited but Sakura still have two more matches to deal with" Kakashi said "and to get your injuries treated"

Sasuke then noticed the scars in her arms from the water hitting on her and the bruising around her fingers from gripping the weight

"Your legs are alright, no injuries detected" a medic nin said to Tenten

"Weird, just now it almost seems like I sprained it"

"Probably cramps, it happens"

"Or a purple haired freak" Tenten muttered angrily

Hinata saw Tenten with the medic from afar and sat next to Ino

"We made it as well" Ino said "And unfortunately so does Ami" gesturing towards Ami who was boasting arrogantly to those who lost

"How can she boast while among the six teams she got the lowest?!"

Hinata didn't pay attention to Ami much and instead look at Naruto laughing with Sakura

"THE SECOND MATCH WILL BEGIN IN AN HOUR" Aoba announced

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R and R pls


	13. Chapter 13

"ALL THE GIRLS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY INTO THE ARENA WHILE THE BOYS GO UP INTO THE AUDIENCE SEAT" Raigo try to sort everyone up

All the girls then started to head back towards the arena.

_Twelve of us and that includes Ami and her two idiots _Ino thought looking around _and that monstrous girl I saw on Hinata's land challenge, what's her name again? Sumi? _

"This time, it's an individual challenge so it will be more difficult than the first challenge" Aoba explained "For this challenge, you are require to pick a paper from this pouch right now"

"Why?" Tenten asked

"The paper will state the animal you need to catch"

The girls started to pick a piece of paper from the small pouch and soon opened it

"Alright now tell me what you get"

"Wolf" Sakura stated

"Pigeon" Hinata said

"Monkey" Tenten said

"Pig" Ino grudgingly said earning some laughter from others

After all the girls mentioned which animals they need to catch, some chuunins started to bring some cages covered with blanket while other chuunins are carrying huge scrolls and trying to set up a new environment

Soon, some smoke appears from the scrolls and half of the arena is filled with trees.

_Forest huh, so not only we need to catch those animals but we have to find them as well _Sakura thought

"THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, THE RED LINE OVER THERE" Aoba motioned to the end of the arena further from the forest where there is a red line "THAT WILL BE YOUR FINISH LINE. YOU HAVE SIXTY MINUTES TO BRING YOUR ASSIGNED ANIMAL TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE"

Some girls are starting to think that this will be an easy challenge until Raido comes in and said

"WE ADDED A LITTLE TWIST HERE" Raido then motioned the chuunins in charge of the cages to remove the cover "AS YOU CAN SEE, IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE"

There's twelve cages each at the size of those huge cargos usually ships carry. In each cages, there's different kinds of animals but there's more than one animal for each kind.

"YEAH, YOU MAY ONLY NEED TO CATCH ONE ANIMAL, BUT THE ANIMAL YOU NEED TO CATCH WILL BE THE KING AMONG THE OTHERS" Raido stated

"ON EACH CAGE, ONE OF THE ANIMAL IS BIGGER THAN THE OTHERS AND THEY ARE DIFFERENT BASED ON THEIR CLOTHING. WHILE THE REST OF THE ANIMALS ARE JUST LIKE NORMAL ANIMALS, NOT CLOTHED, THE KING THAT RAIDO MEANT ARE THE ANIMAL THAT HAS SOME CLOTHING ON. FOR EXAMPLE, THE MONKEY HERE IS BIGGER THAN THE OTHERS AND IT'S OBVIOUS THAT HE'S WEARING A HAT AND VEST" Raido said while gesturing towards the monkey

"SOME ANIMALS ARE NOT DRESSED BUT YOU CAN TELL THAT THEY'RE THE ONES YOU NEED TO CATCH BASED ON THEIR SIZE"

Sakura know what he meant and saw the wolf that she needs to catch.

_He's bigger than the others, he's as big as a horse and there's an air of superiority in him _Sakura thought

_One of the pigeon's wings has some gold sparkle on it, it's probably the king _Hinata thought

_How am I supposed to capture a monkey?! Much less one wearing a hat _Tenten started to think about ways to catch the monkey

_A pig?! Is this a joke? Especially if the pig is wearing a chinese top and the fattest of them all _Ino furiously thought

"FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO GOT BIRD, THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO FLY ABOVE THE TREES IN THE FOREST. AND THE EXTRA ANIMALS ON THE CAGE WILL BE THE KING'S SERVANTS. THEY'LL PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING TO THEIR MASTER. THERE'S EIGHT IN TOTAL OF EACH KIND" Aoba finishes "THERE'S SECURITY CAMERA EVERYONE ON THE FOREST AND YOUR SIXTY MINUTES START...NOW!"

...

Sakura was walking through the forest observing her surrounding. Suddenly, a figure moving in fast speed emerged and slammed into her.

"OW"

"Watch it!"

_Oh it's that big girl named Sumi _Sakura thought who glared at her. When Sumi left, Sakura went further until she saw some tracks.

_Looks like a wolf's track_ Sakura thought following the track until it ends

_Leads to a dead end _a cliff is right in front of where the track ends _they couldn't possibly climb it, the rocks are big and smooth_

Suddenly there's some rusling in the bushes and before Sakura knew it, four large wolf jump into her.

...

_Damn that monkey is really fast _Tenten thought jumping from trees to trees following the monkey

_And his so called servants are really annoying _Tenten braced herself and land a kick on a monkey coming from her right where it landed on the ground _three down, five more to go and the king's mine_

As she's jumping, she saw another girl jumping from trees to trees not as fast as her though chasing something

_The Hyuuga girl _Tenten remembered her healing her leg

Hinata was chasing the pigeon and was failing miserably

_It's too fast, and it's surrounded by the other pigeons so it'll be difficult to identify the king in the flock _Hinata thought trying to catch her breath. She was about to give up until a tree from the right fell trapping the birds in itsbranches

The falling tree looks like someone was directly aiming at the bird Hinata thought before she pick up the pigeon 'king' leaving its servants stuck in the tree branches and head towards the finish line

Not far from there, a figure saw what happened and smiled

Now we're even

...

"YES!" Kiba yelled "GOOD JOB HINATA!"

"It's useless to scream it out loud, why? Because she can't hea"

"Yeah yeah Shino! This shows that our team is the first one to pass" Kiba said cutting Shino off

"She wouldn't be the first though if that other girl didn't help her" Chouji commented

"But she did" Kiba arrogantly countered with a smirk and he saw Neji glaring at Hinata who just passes through the finish line

_This is going to be bad _Kiba thought noticing Neji's anger

"GIRL FIGHT!"

All the boys turned and saw on the screen two girls fighting

"Is that?" Chouji asked

"Yep, that's definitely Tenten and that Sumi girl" Asuma said while blowing out puffs of smoke

...

"THIRTY MINUTES LEFT"

Ino run as fast as she can heading towards the arena.

_These pigs are huge and disgusting_ she thought as keep on running until she can see the empty field on the front _maybe I can lure them into going towards the finish line_

Soon, Ino emerged out in the open area between the finish line and the forest. She keep on running towards the finish line and glance back to make sure that the pigs are following her but as soon as those pigs step in the middle of the finishe line and the forest, they started running in different directions.

"What's going on?!" Ino thought running back "WHY ARE THEY NOT FOLLOWING ME!"

"OH WE FORGOT TO INFORM THAT THE FINISH LINE HAS A DISTINCT SCENT THAT REPEL ANIMALS SO IT'S MORE DIFFICULT TO BRING THEM FORWARD" Aoba stated

"Perfect" Ino muttered looking at the chaos the pigs created

...

_That girl needs to go to an anger management class _Tenten thought as she continues jumping through the trees outside of the forest _sorry Lee, Neji but my safety comes first_

Tenten emerged into the open area with Sumi following close by holding a spear and charging directly towards her

_Well, I might as well have some fun _Tenten thought bracing herself in a fighting stance

"Bring it on, beast"

...

"Ino's deliberately angering the pigs to chase her so she could lure them towards the finish line" Shikamaru stated "Not bad"

"It would have worked if the finish line isn't animal proof" Asuma commented

"Then how could Hinata finish first?" Naruto asked

"She was carrying the pigeon dobe. The bird didn't have a choice" Sasuke answered causing Naruto to complain for the dobe nickname

"We haven't seen Sakura chan" Naruto suddenly said "not even on the screen"

_Where is she? _Sasuke thought wondering until he got distracted by an even bigger commotion

"FOREST FIRE!"

...

_That's the last of it _Sakura thought staggering after she throw the last wolf into a hole she created _only the king left_

The king look at her with that fiery eyes and Sakura's about to charge forward until she smelled something

_It smells like...smoke _Sakura thought before she saw the orange colour on the distance _forest fire?!_

Sakura was about to leave until she realized something

The king wolf didn't leave and instead it was circling the hole containing the eight wolf Sakura made

_He's not leaving without his followers _Sakura thought trying to think of a plan before she saw something on top of the cliff

_..._...

"TEN MINUTES LEFT"

"There's Sakura!" Naruto cried "SAKURA! GET OUT OF THERE"

_The wolf didn't want to leave the others _Kakashi observed _and she can't finish the second stage without it_

"WHAT IS SHE DOING?" Naruto screamed

Everyone then turned towards the screen where Sakura climbed on top of the hill and tried to push a large rock

"She's trying to get the eight wolf out of the hole" Shikamaru answered

"How?"

Shikamaru was about to reply until a huge squel is head. Everyone turned and saw nearly almost all the animals and some of the students running out of the forest. This includes the pig who saw the stampede and charged towards the finish line which is located near the end of the arena, furthest from the forest causing Ino to follow suit thus making her pass the second round.

Sasuke saw the screen and saw the king wolf who managed to climb up and help Sakura push the boulder.

"This is bad" Kurenai said worriedly about Sakura who's having a hard time trying to breath and run due to the thickening smoke and still trying to push the boulder

...

_Just a little more _Sakura thought as the rock started to move and finally it fell next to the hole creating a pathway for the wolves trapped there a way out

Sakura turned and saw the king wolf gazing at her and she didn't know whether it's because of the smoke but his eyes seems to be trying to say something to her

Thank you

Sakura and the king wolf stand there looking at each other for a while before a huge tree fell alerting Sakura and she jumped down with the wolf following suit and tries to run

_It's too far, especially if I'm in the other end of the arena _Sakura thought covering her nose with her hands and slowing down

Then, she stopped and fell to the ground breathing heavily and losing consciousness. The last thing she see is the king wolf running forwards and stopping turning and saw her on the ground

"Run" she said weakly before she passed out on the ground

...

"SAKURA!"

Everyone turned and saw Tenten who suddenly appeared over the finish line looking at the screen calling Sakura's name, next to her is Sumi with some ostrich pecking her.

_Must be her assigned animal _Sasuke noted before realizing what the big concern is

_She's half unconscious and she won't make it in time, the smoke is thickening and not only the big consequences is us not passing the second round but she might lose oxygen and die _Sasuke thought getting worried

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" Naruto started

"I know I know" Kakashi said who started to jump down towards the arena and the other jonins followed suit

"ALL JONINS PLEASE HEAD TOWARDS THE ARENA! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, A GIRL IS STUCK IN THE FOREST WITH NO WAY OUT" Aoba started to announce and he himself looked a bit panicked

Everyone in the audience started talking

"The pink haired girl"

"Is she dead?"

"Unconscious probably"

"SAKURA!" Naruto was about to jump down but Sasuke hold him back

"SASUKE WE HAVE TO SAVE SAKURA CHAN! SHE COULD DIE!"

"I know that, the jonin will do the job, not us" Sasuke said

"The jonins can't get inside the forest" Shikamaru stated "The fire is too big"

Sasuke froze for a moment after hearing what Shikamaru said and realized that he's right, the jonins are not entering the forest and they're communicating with one another. Some are using their water style to extinguish the fire but the fire is too big. Some jonins even looked panicked. He was about to not only release his hold on Naruto but also to jump down himself until he heard Tenten

"SHE'S WAKING UP!" Tenten excitedly said "THE KING WOLF IS NUDGING HER"

The screen shows the king wolf putting his head under her arms trying to make her stand up. Sakura herself tries to before her knees shook and she's about to hit the floor once again until the wolf uses his body to sustain her. The king wolf adjust her position so it look like she's riding on a horse and after he's sure that she won't fall, he started speeding off. Soon, the wolf reaches the end of the forest but the fire is too big and he's not able to jump over it.

Kakashi saw the screen and started to command

"ALL WATER STYLE USERS STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND EXTINGUISH THIS AREA! THE WOLF NEEDS A WAY OUT" Kakashi motioned to the tree and started making handseals with the other water users dousing the fire and suddenly, the wolf jumped over them charging towards the finish line with an unconscious Sakura on his back.

"SAKURA!" Tenten removed her from the wolf's back and Kakashi sensei was suddenly beside her carrying Sakura.

"I NEED MEDIC" Kakashi announced

Naruto then jumped down into the arena. Sasuke unconsciously followed

"Is she going to be okay?" Tenten asked panickedly

"Kakashi sensei! Is Sakura chan alright?"

"Medic's here" a medic rushed forward and started to examine Sakura. He started to gather chakra on his arms and placed it on her heads bringing colour to Sakura's face whose breathing started to become more calm.

Kakashi sighed in relief and Naruto looks more relaxed. Sasuke saw Sakura and he felt calmer and relieved.

_Why am I this relieved _Sasuke thought observing Sakura started opening her eyes

"SAKURA" Tenten cried happily

"She's going to be fine" the medic said "no permanent injuries and she can still compete after a one hour rest. Just make sure she got some fresh air"

Sakura looked around and saw both Tenten and Naruto giving them both a weak smile and she turned and saw Sasuke. Both made eye contact for a brief second before Sasuke looked away.

Naruto grinned and he saw the wolf passes through and nudged her face which Sakura returned the gesture by stroking his head.

_His expression is definitely different from when he saw her taking out the other wolves _Naruto thought remembering the expression the wolf has during that time

_That's an expression I'll never forget. Fierce, tough, intense, fiery, determined, guarded and yet wary. I feel like I've seen it before somewhere though _Naruto thought trying to remember until he's distracted with the examiner announcing everyone passes due to all the animals running out of the forest towards the finish line with all the girls except one girl being disqualified for starting the fire in the first place who did it to get her snake out of the forest.

"THE THIRD AND LAST MATCH WILL BEGIN IN AN HOUR" Aoba announced

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In case you were wondering on why it's funny that Ino got the pig, the name Ino means pig in Japanese

Read and reviews pls


	14. Chapter 14

"Since you're okay now Sakura chan, we can go eat ramen" Naruto excitedly said

"Dobe, she'll get cramps if she eat before the next match" Sasuke stated

"SO YOU'RE GOING TO LET HER STARVE?"

"Preferrably"

"I wouldn't mind unless you continuously eat sugar during the entire third match which will last for, I'm guessing, one hour" Sakura replied cooly

Sasuke looked a bit surprised by her reply and Naruto who heard it keep on laughing until he said

"What will it be Sasuke? Sugar or ramen? No competition there" Naruto taunted enjoying Sasuke's expression

Sasuke grudgingly went to Ichiraku ramen with Naruto and Sakura. As Naruto walked ahead Sasuke asked Sakura

"How do you know that I don't like sugar?"

"I heard you say it to a fangirl who tried to give you chocolate back then in the academy" Sakura replied

Neither said anything afterwards and Naruto witnessed the entire exchange

_I wonder if the Hokage planned this all along giving me the same type of teammate. Even though I liked Sakura chan and hated Sasuke teme, I can't help but just realized now how similar they are. They both are calm, quiet, smart, and considered good looking by the opposite gender (this is probably only true for Sakura chan's case as the girls that call Sasuke handsome obviously have no eye). _

But despite all their similarities with each other, they both don't really like each other, in fact Sakura treated me better than Sasuke teme while I can count with one hand the number of times I saw Sasuke talking with Sakura chan. I have a feeling that if I put both on an isolated island together, only the two of them, none of them will speak with each other.

Right now, silence still engulf the two of them until they reached Ichiraku.

...

"FOR THIS NEXT CHALLENGE, IT WILL ALSO BE ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE" Aoba announced

"AMONG THIS ARENA, THERE'S FIVE NECKLACES WITH RED CRYSTAL LIKE THIS" Aoba show a necklace with a red crystal to everyone and throw it in the air where a black crow grabbed it in mid air and flies away towards a tall tree settling himself there

"ELEVEN OF YOU WILL COMPETE AND A **MAXIMUM** OF FIVE TEAM WILL BE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE CHUUNIN EXAM" Aoba then continues "THIS CHALLENGE WILL CONSISTS OF LOOKING FOR THE CRYSTAL AND GAINING THEM. YOU CAN GET A CRYSTAL WHETHER IT'S FROM ANIMAL, OBSTACLE OR A CHUUNIN SO THIS IS A COMBINATION OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CHALLENGE ALTOGETHER"

Some girls look confident about this while most are nervous.

_I'm excited to send that hag away from the ninja world _Ino thought looking at Ami chatting with her two followers

"THE FINISH LINE IS RIGHT HERE AND YOUR SIXTY MINUTES STARTS...NOW"

...

"Unlike other matches, this one doesn't have a river or forest" Kiba commented "My favourite so far"

"There's a tree house" Shino pointed out

"I still don't get why our female teammates are the ones that have to compete for this?" Chouji asked "And the challenges are made designed to make no room for them to use a jutsu or something"

"That's because statistics usually show that the girl on the team are usually the weakest member and we wanted to test them on their stamina, agility, coordination and strategy skills" Asuma answered

"For combats and raw skills that includes taijutsu the strongest are probably Tenten and Sumi" Shikamaru replied "But when it comes to strategy skills, Sakura's probably the only one capable of it"

"What made you say that?" Kiba asked

"When she's partnered up with Tenten she's the one commanding the team and planning Tenten's next move" Shino replied "and also her clever idea on using the rock to release the wolves trapped"

"Too bad Ino's skills didn't help much for combat" Shikamaru said lazily

"But she did manage to go this far Shikamaru, you have to give her more credit than that" Asuma said

"The second challenge is ruined because of the fire otherwise there will be less girls competing right now" Shikamaru replied back

"The hardest way to get a crystal is probably the chuunin" Kiba said "look at it, no one approaches her"

Everyone looked at the female chuunin holding a katana sitting at the rock

"Well actually, only four girls, who happens to be our teammates, are actually trying to get a crystal, the other seven are just waiting around to steal it from one of them, most likely from Ino who's the easiest target" Shikamaru pointed out and everyone realized that he's right.

...

As soon as the examiner announced the start, Sakura began to run towards the tree house with the other contestants and as she's heading towards it a voice alert her

"SAKURA! BEHIND YOU!" Tenten shouted

Sakura turned and saw a big red bull charging towards her

_Great _Sakura thought running away _I should've worn a different color _

Sakura look back at the ball and saw around it's neck, there's a crystal necklace hanging there. She observed her surrounding until she saw something and speed off towards the wall

As she's getting closer to the wall, she jumped and pushed herself using her leg on the wall propelling her going back through still air and do a backflip in air landing on the bull's back whose horn is stuck in the wall. She tore the necklace off his neck and run towards the finish line.

...

"GO SAKURA CHAN!" Naruto cheered "WE'RE GOING INTO THE CHUUNIN EXAM!"

Sasuke look at Sakura's running figure with a confident smirk on his face

"Less than ten minutes in the third round and she already win?" Kiba said surprised "I thought she's just some girly girl who has no concept in being a ninja"

"What made you say that?" Kurenai asked

"Her pink hair" Kiba answered sheepishly

...

_Almost there _Sakura keep on running until a kunai sailed past her nearly hitting her

"Oh sorry, but you're not passing this round" Ami said charging towards her with her two followers forcing Sakura to fight them

The encounter ended with the three of them getting beat up leaving the other three girls about to steal the crystal having second thought

The last girl, Sumi saw Sakura running towards the finish line after beating up the three annoying girls decided to not challenge her as there's a chance that she might lose preferring to choose a weaker opponent or someone she doesn't like. As she's thinking about the last one, she's looking towards Tenten who's unaware of the snakes moving behind her.

Sakura was a about to pass through the red line until a voice stopped her in her tracks

"AAAAAH"

_Tenten _Sakura thought and when she looked back, she saw three huge cobra wrapping Tenten squeezing her. Sakura looked at the finish line right by her leg and back at Tenten unable to make up her mind.

"AAAAAHHHHH"

Then finally, she turned back and run towards Tenten.

...

"What is she doing" Sasuke asked in anger

"Helping her friend" Kakashi answered

Naruto looked a bit speechless about this new development unsure of what to say

"Aren't you going to cheer her on Naruto?" Kiba taunted but Naruto didn't know what sarcasm is so he did the unpredictable

"GO SAKURA CHAN! HELP YOUR BEST FRIEND!" Naruto cheered

"Dobe, don't encourage her"

"Teme!"

"YOSH! THE POWER OF YOUTH BURNS WITHIN THEM!" Lee cried with fire in his eyes and he look towards Naruto and Sasuke arguing one sidedly on Naruto's part "AND THEM AS WELL!"

...

Sakura throw her kunai on the three snakes forcing them to release Tenten and as they're about to approach Sakura, she throw kunai loaded with explosion tags scaring the snakes away

Tenten wobbled and would've went down if it's not because of Sakura supporting her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah thanks to you" Tenten replied with a grin

"And I got this" she showed Sakura a red crystal "that's why they attacked me

"Good, because those two are heading our way" Sakura answered motioning towards Ino and Hinata

"Do you think they're going to challenge us?" Tenten asked

"Be prepared"

"What should we do?"

"Walk normally"

Sakura and Tenten walk towards Ino and Hinata about to pass them. The atmosphere is getting tense as they went past each other. Tenten's about to think that it was safe until a kunai is aimed towards her. Luckily she's able to dodge the attack. She looked and saw who throw the kunai.

It was Hinata

...

"Wow I didn't think Hinata had it in her" Kiba commented

"She has to do it, there's no other choice. Why? Because if both Sakura and Tenten cross the finish line and three crystals are left, the other competitors would target both Ino and Hinata" Shino stated

"And if Sakura and Tenten stays, they can get rid of the opponents" Shikamaru finishes "Ino can't come up with something like this. Although Hinata made one mistake"

"And what would that be?" Kiba asked

"She underestimated how good Sakura and Tenten is" Shikamaru said "If she wanted a chance to steal someone's crystal, her opponent should be Tenten"

"Why Tenten? She's a strong opponent due to her taijutsu skills and she has a Hyuuga in the team" Kiba pointed out

"Hinata's not clever enough to defeat Sakura while if she's dealing with Tenten, there may be a chance that Tenten might be outsmarted." Shikamaru finishes "Probably because her personality is similar with Ino's so those two are easily lured by their emotion"

"How about Ino who's now fighting with Sakura chan? Do you think that there's a chance that Ino might defeat her?" Naruto ask

Shikamaru thought for a moment before he replied

"No, and even if Hinata did manage to beat Tenten, she'll still lose against Sakura who at that point in time already finished with Ino. It's already clear who the winner will be "

Nobody said anything afterwards, lost in their own thoughts

...

Hinata, her byakugan activated, was trying to dodge Tenten's kicks and try to strike her with gentle fist.

"Just a reminder" Tenten said between kicks and punches "one of my teammates is a Hyuuga so I'm used to deal with you people"

Hinata just stay silent and focus with trying to land a hit on Tenten

Meanwhile, Ino's trying to attack Sakura using a kunai with Sakura dodging them easily. Ino saw Hinata's fight from the corner of her eyes and got an idea. She formed her hand into the mind transfer seal and aim it towards Tenten who at that time just landed a kick on Hinata who grabbed her leg trapping her long enough for Ino to do the jutsu.

Ino's body fell into the ground and Sakura look towards Tenten who smiled at Hinata

"It's me. You can let me go now" Tenten/Ino said

Sakura observe the two girls and she went over to Ino's body.

"What are you doing?" Ino/Tenten asked

"You want your body?" Sakura said supporting it like it was a life sized doll "come and get it"

Sakura throw the body towards an area that have the sign that says **THIN GROUND **where there is a crystal located planted in it at the middle. As the body is thrown there, the ground began to form cracks.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Ino/Tenten yelled running towards that area

"No, _because_ I thought of everything" Sakura answered "you have better chance of retrieving that body of yours and getting that crystal in the middle if you remove that jutsu you use to stay inside Tenten"

As Ino's trying to get her body back, Hinata charged towards Sakura. Both are dodging and trying to give blows on each other. It's clear that Hinata's the better fighter but Sakura's always fast enough to dodge her attack on the last second.

Sumi observe the fight and decided that it's time for her to intervene. She was about to target Ino/Tenten who has the crystal but when she's heading her way, a rock is thrown to her head by Sakura who saw it coming angering her.

"YOU LITTLE PINK TWERP!"

Sumi charged towards Sakura who dodged and Hinata tried to hit her with her gentle fist but failed. Instead, Sumi managed to aim her spear towards Hinata's rib.

"HINATA!" Kiba cried out

Sakura pushed Sumi, grabbed Hinata and moved towards where Ino/Tenten is.

_Quite deep, she won't be able to fight _Sakura noted looking at the injury

She saw Sumi moved towards them with determination

"She's headed our way" Ino whispered frantically

Sakura formed some hand seal and Sumi's thrown backwards a few feet away.

"How did?" Ino asked

"Explosion tag" Sakura replied

"HInata? Are you okay? Hinata?" Ino began to panic

Sakura observe the surrounding then turned to Ino

"I'll can bring her out but it's going to be difficult" Sakura stated and when Ino nodded she continued "first, give me your crystal, I mean the one in Tenten's body which you're occupying"

Ino looked doubtful for a moment until Sakura said "I won't escape, I promise"

Ino then give her the crystal which Sakura slide next towards Ino's body

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" Ino exclaimed

"How long can you stay on this body?" Sakura asked

"Depends on my chakra"

"Five more minutes?"

"I guess so"

"Good" Sakura replied before pushing her off towards the thin ground

"AAAAAHHHHH"

"Just stay still!" Sakura shouted to Tenten before running off bringing Hinata along towards the finish line

"That's the part I'm really scared of!" Ino said as she saw her body next to her with the crystal in the middle of them both.

...

"This is really exciting!" Kiba said looking at the arena

"You should be concerned on whether or not Hinata is alright instead of enjoying the show" Shino said

"C'mon, even the boys are having a good time watching this" Kiba said "and Hinata's fine, Sakura got her"

"Those two are chased by an angry Sumi and six girls which includes Ami and her gang" Naruto said still not tearing his eyes from the battlefield "why did Sakura chan throw Ino into the thin ground?"

"So the enemies won't target her. They won't dare to step into that area" Shikamaru replied

"But why didn't Sakura chan ask Ino to switch back into her body?" again Naruto asked

"Because dealing with one person is easier than two" Shikamaru answered

...

"We're almost there just hang on" Sakura said as she's dragging Hinata along. It's a bit difficult because Hinata's not strong enough to run so in the end , the seven girls managed to catch up with them encircling them forcing Sakura to stop.

"Keep pressing the cloth on your wound, it'll slow your blood loss" Sakura said to Hinata who's using the cloth from Sakura's sleeve to cover her wound

"I'm about to pass out" Hinata weakly said

"Don't pass out" Sakura said "Make a conversation with me"

"Ummm, how will you get Tenten and Ino out of there?"

"There's a way but it's a bit tricky" Sakura replied positioning Hinata behind her

"Okay, how will we get out of this fight?" Hinata asked again during which Sakura uses her kunai to block an attack from a nearby girl

"I have a plan"

"What if it doesn't work"

"There's the thing called plan B" Sakura replied as she land a kick to one of Ami's follower who passed out from it "keep asking so you won't pass out"

Hinata started to get really weak and can't think straight so she asked the question that's been haunting her since the day she met Sakura

"Do you ever met anyone else with the same eye colour like you?"

Sakura stood frozen for a moment, Hinata wondered whether that's a sensitive subject until Sakura replied "No"

Hinata's about to ask one more but Sakura pushed her towards the back nearer towards the finish line but still too far to make it by herself. Hinata looked back and saw Sumi charging towards Sakura who has a calm and serious look on her face and suddenly, she dropped a kunai on the ground and run towards Hinata engulfing her.

"Brace yourself" Sakura said and Hinata saw why "It's time for plan B"

The kunai contained an explosion tag propelling them forward and knocking off the other girls further from them. Hinata didn't feel much of the explosion because Sakura's body covering her and Sakura also manipulate their position on still air so when Hinata landed, Sakura's at the bottom as a cushion when Hinata fall preventing her to hit the hard ground.

Sakura posistioned Tenten up and they walked quickly towards the finish line but behind them Ami and her gang, who didn't get affected by the explosion as much as the others, started charging towards them.

"Hinata I'm sorry about this" That was the last thing Sakura said before she pushed Tenten far enough to cross the finish line.

"MEDIC!" Sakura yelled motioning towards Hinata

Hinata looked towards her stomach and saw a red crystal necklace there.

She gave me hers

"If you don't mind, I grabbed your pouch" that's the last thing Sakura said before she ran off

The medic came and started to heal Hinata but she didn't realize the medic was there or her teammate's cheer as she's too busy looking at Sakura's retreating back facing off Ami and her gang.

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Read and reviews pls


	15. Chapter 15

"SHE DID IT!" Kiba cheered "WE'RE ENTERING THE EXAM! OII HINATA! YOU OK THERE?"

Hinata nodded which earned her a thumbs up from Kiba

"Mendokuse, I'll never understand girls" Shikamaru said while yawning

"THEY ARE TRULY FULL OF YOUTH" Lee declared

"LEE"

"GAI SENSEI"

"LEE!"

The two weirdos then hug earning snickers from everyone

"Sakura chan" Naruto whispered "be careful"

Sasuke saw the Sakura moving towards Ami

_She's even worse than Naruto _Sasuke thought

...

_I really hate these girls _Sakura thought dodging the punches from the afro haired girl, whose name is Kasumi, and do an air kick knocking her off.

_One down, two to go _Sakura thought as the spiky haired one, Fuki, starts to throw shurikens towards her which she dodged easily and Sakura charged towards her, using her kunai to deflect the shurikens, Sakura starts to do some punches which Fuki can barely until Sakura then grabbed Fuki's right arm with her left and uses her right arm that's holding a kunai to knock Fuki unconscious using the end of the kunai.

"Who's next?" Sakura said looking at Ami who's now trembling and ran off

Sakura then grabbed the shurikens on the ground quickly and put it inside Hinata's pouch running towards Ino the thin ground and at the same time observing the content.

_Kunais, shurikens, no explosion tags? _Sakura thought and she saw the three other girls now charging towards her _seems like they're working together now _

Sakura continues rummaging through her pouch until she saw something useful

_Hopefully this works _Sakura thought before popping a military rations pill into her mouth

"Ready to get beaten?" one of the girls holding a chain sickle asked with two other circling Sakura, one is holding some sort of whip and the other one equipped herself with some needles they got from the treehouse

"You should be asking yourself that" Sakura replied before charging towards them

The chain sickle girl tries swing her sickle and throw it hoping to hit Sakura with it but Sakura jumped and throw shurikens at her and when she tries to use her sickle to cover her, she realized that it's stuck in the ground forcing her to release her weapon and move back to dodge the kunais.

As Sakura's still in the air, the needle girl throw some needles towards her but Sakura deflect it using her kunai and she maneuver herself in the air so when she landed, she did a flip with her leg hitting needle girl's head knocking her unconscious.

As soon as she touches the ground, the whip nearly hit Sakura but fortunately she's lucky enough to be able to avoid it. Sakura then run towards whip girl who saw her chance to hit Sakura and swing her whip towards her. Sakura see it coming and uses her hand to block the whip which curled on her hand.

"Oww"

Whip girl then pulled her whip with Sakura attached to it and Sakura positioned herself horizontally so when she's pulled towards whip girl, her leg hit her knocking off whip girl.

Sakura then saw sickle girl running towards her until a voice alerted her

"HOW LONG SHOULD I STAY HERE?"

"JUST GIVE ME ONE MORE MINUTE" Sakura answered back bracing herself and when sickle girl tries to charge towards her with her sickle, Sakura jumped up

"I'm not falling for the same trick twice" sickle girl said throwing the sickle and it hit Sakura's stomach

"Got you!" sickle girl said until Sakura poofed into smoke and becomes log

"Substitution" Sakura said behind her before punching her knocking her out. Sakura then grabbed the sickle, needle and whip and run towards the thin ground.

"Ino! Grab this!" Sakura throw her the end of the whip "do it slowly, don't make any sudden movement"

Ino hold the end of the whip and Sakura hold the other end pulling her.

"Almost there, just keep steady" Sakura said pulling Ino

"Okay you're safe now" Ino sit up and grabbed Sakura's hand stretched towards her "it's not over yet"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked then she saw Sumi who just recovered from the explosion heading towards her "Err I can see you point, Sumi looks pretty mad"

"That's not what I meant" Sakura said looking towards Ino's real body still at the middle of the thin ground with the crystal there

"So now what?!" Ino asked starting to panic

"Return to your body"

"But that means I'm back there again?!" Ino cried getting scared to be back in the thin ground "do you know that it's really scary lying there trying to stay still when one move can make you fall?!"

"I need Tenten to distract Sumi for a while. And I also need you to get the crystal next to your body that I throw" Sakura said

"Why did you throw it anyway?"

"Because if they have brain, they won't go after me if they know I don't have a crystal but turns out they have no brain" Sakura said getting irritated "they need to go purchase a brain after this match"

Ino got a bit shocked watching Sakura getting irritated until she realized she needs to get back into her body.

"I'M BACK" Ino called at the middle of the thin ground

"What happened" Tenten said sitting up looking around "Sakura...Sumi's heading towards us"

"There's a sickle next to me, and some needles" Sakura said "use both to immobilize her until I get Ino out"

"Ino?" Tenten started until she saw the body in the middle of the thin ice "Oh, okay no problem"

Tenten grabbed both the chain sickle and needle then run towards Sumi.

"Hey beast! Miss me?" Tenten mocked irritating her

"INO SLOWLY MOVE YOUR LEFT HAND TOWARDS YOUR LEFT AND TRY TO REACH FOR THE CRYSTAL" Sakura commanded throwing the whip again which landed on Ino's stomach

"GOT IT!" Ino said with the crystal shown in her hand "THERE'S ONE MORE RIGHT BESIDE IT, IT'S PLANTED ON THE GROUND THOUGH. LET ME JUST..."

"WAIT NO! DON'T" Sakura started to say but it's too late, the moment Ino touches the other crystal planted on the thin ground, cracks starts to form and the ground break

"AAAAAAH" Ino yelled as the ground below her starts to break

"GRAB THE WHIP!" Sakura shouted

Ino grabbed the whip with shaky hands and when the ground below her break, Ino was hanging on with Sakura holding the end of the whip.

"SAKURA ITS REALLY HIGH UP HERE!" Ino cried getting scared

"STOP MOVING! I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO PULL YOU UP SO YOU HAVE TO CLIMB UP ON YOUR OWN" Sakura shouted

"I'LL TRY" Ino said getting scared and slowly, she climb up to the top where she grabbed Sakura's outstretched hand. Both girls fell into the ground breathing heavily.

"Did you get at least one of the crystal" Sakura asked still panting

Ino answered by holding one crystal towards Sakura and she look at her other hand covered in blood.

_It's not my blood _Ino thought and she saw Sakura's bleeding hand with a wound that look like it came from a whip. Her blood still dripping as she stand up looking towards Tenten.

...

"That was really scary" Shikamaru said with his eyes widened

"I need more snacks" Chouji said nudging Shikamaru and his eyes glued to the arena

"Did you see how deep that cliff is?" Kiba said getting excited "best match so far"

Naruto was looking intently at the arena and Sasuke did the same unconsciously.

"This is not the exam yet and all of you are already like this" Kakashi said noting their expression "I pity those girls"

...

Sakura looked around the field. The three girls whose weapons she stole are engaging a fight with the chuunin.

_No competition there, the chuunin is winning _Sakura thought and she saw Tenten holding out on her own against Sumi with no obvious winner although Sumi looks more tired but Tenten lacks brute strength

"Sakura..." Ino started about to say something about her bleeding arm but Sakura misinterpret it and saw Ami, Kasumi and Fuki heading towards them

Then Tenten moved back towards Sakura with Sumi trying to free herself from the chain sickle wrapped around her

"Ten, we're giving her the crystal" Sakura said

"WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Tenten yelled surprised and Ino looked a bit surprised as well with this development

"One of us should go and Ino's starting to run out of chakra from occupying your body just now, if the crystal stays here among us, they'll target us" Sakura said motioning towards the three girls who realized that Ino is holding a crystal and started to run towards them "we can get another one"

"I think you should be the one going" Ino said towards Sakura "Your arms..."

"Will be fine" Sakura finishes " and I eat Hinata's military rations pill"

"Do you have anymore of those?" Tenten asked getting tired

"Sorry, there's only one there" Sakura answered "You get the three girls and I get the annoying three girls. Sumi's still trapped but if I'm right, it won't last long especially with the brute strength she has. I wish I had more explosion tags"

"I want to get the annoying three girls" Tenten complained but noticed Sakura's bleeding arm "never mind"

"We'll cover you. Now go!" Sakura said towards Ino before running towards Ami and Tenten charging at the three girls.

"Wait!" Ino said before throwing her pouch to Sakura "You said you need more explosion tags didn't you?"

Sakura nodded towards Ino before retreating and Ino stood for a moment and look at Sakura then at her hand with Sakura's dried blood traces on it. She then run towards the finish line, joining Hinata.

...

"Well congrats then, you both will be joining the exam after all" Kiba said towards Shikamaru and Chouji

"There's only two crystals left" Shikamaru stated

"What?" Naruto asked confused

"The examiner said that there are five right? The first one is the one Sakura got from the bull given to Hinata. The second one is the one Tenten retrieved from the cobras. The third one is in the thin ground which fell and cannot be retreived again. The fourth is somewhere along those land mines challenge and the last one is still with the chuunin" Shikamaru stated

Everyone then realized that there's only two more teams that could join the chuunin exam. Sasuke observe Sakura dealing with Ami and her gang and Tenten dealing with the three girls. Sumi is still stuck in the chain sickle but it'll break soon.

"THIRTY MINUTES LEFT"

"Sasuke teme, what if Sakura don't get the crystal in time?" Naruto asked

Sasuke was about to reply until Naruto ask

"Or what if she died? Or suffered permanent injury? She was close to death at the second stage"

Sasuke look at Sakura's bleeding right arm whose blood is still coming out right now and he realized that he honestly don't know the answer to that question and neither is Naruto. They both stood in silence along with Guy's team.

...

After Ami fell to the ground, Sakura then look at Tenten struggling with the last girl. Tenten nodded towards her and deliver a punch towards the girl knocking her out. Tenten then ran towards Sakura

"Now what?"

Sakura looked around and saw the chuunin and land mine.

_Time is running out so we have to do this individually, Tenten may have better chance in getting the crystal if she's battling the chuunin instead of getting it through the land mine _Sakura thought

"Try to get the crystal from the chuunin while I'll try getting the one from the land mine"

"We're doing this individually?" Tenten asked surprised "I thought we're doing this together"

"I'm afraid that we don't have enough time if we do it together, whoever finishes first will help the other" Sakura said

Tenten nodded and Sakura soon run off towards the land mines. Tenten stared at her jumping through holes trying to get the crystal located at the center before heading towards the chuunin but as she's running, an is aimed towards her and it grazed through some of her hair.

"Sorry, but that last crystal is mine twerp" Sumi said holding the bow and loading another arrow

...

_Just two more _Sakura thought jumping into holes without the land mines _can't believe the seven of them don't dare to go through this_

Sakura then made the final jump and bend down to get the crystal

"Got it"

"SAKURA!" Sakura turned and saw Sumi trying to shot her.

_Judging by her awkwardness with the bow, she's not good is archery _Sakura thought dodging the arrows.

"You're trapped pinky" Sumi said and as she's about to load another arrow, Tenten tackled her into the ground wrestling the bow and arrow out of Sumi's hand and throwing them far from her which landed near Sakura.

Sakura managed to get out of the land mine and saw the bow and arrow

_I'm sorry Sakura_

_Best archerer I've ever seen_

_I wanted to show them that they can't control me_

_Poor thing, she must be shaken_

_She's broken now_

Sakura stand there looking at the bow and arrow remembering those voices until someone screamed at her

"SAKURA!" Sakura turned and saw Ino over the finish line pointing at Tenten, who's being strangled by Sumi

Immediately Sakura started to run but realized that she's too far from them and even if she did make it, she's not strong enough to defeat Sumi. Sakura then checked Ino's pouch and saw an explosion tag.

She's too far Sakura thought

Sakura then saw the bow and arrow and raised her hand to grab them but when they hold it, her hands started shaking and dropped the weapon.

Sakura then saw the bull whose horn is still trapped in the wall and take a kunai attaching the explosion tag there and throw it into the wall releasing the horn from the wall.

The bull saw her and charged towards Sakura who's running towards Sumi.

...

Kakashi's looking at the fight with interest. He noted the part where Sakura blanked out when she saw the bow and arrow and her attempt to pick it up.

_Her hands are shaking when they hold the weapon, I've seen it happen to a lot of shinobis _Kakashi thought

All those shinobis have something in common Kakashi remembered an incident similar to it that's a sign that shows a trauma in the shinobi's life in the past connected to the weapon.

Kakashi look at Sakura running from the bull, _hands shaking, blanking out, she's has a history with the weapon and it must be something special because bow and arrow are rarely used in the fire country. They're mostly used in other countries... there is something important about them that I can't remember _

Kakashi's still pondering about it until he was interrupted by Naruto's cheer.

Sumi's down

...

"FIVE MINUTES LEFT"

Sakura run towards Sumi and the bull follow suit, she then jumped in Sumi's back and ripped out part of her clothes that covers her front thigh and tied it so that it covers covering Sumi's eyes. When Sumi removed the fabric and holding it while looking for Sakura who's pulling Tenten away from her, as she's about to approach her, the bull slammed into her and pushed her away from Sakura and Tenten.

"Ten?! Are you okay? Ten!" Sakura panicked. Sakura then touches Tenten's arm and looked towards chuunin.

"I can't feel her heartbeat" Sakura said panicked while holding Tenten's hand

The chuunin the run towards Sakura and Tenten and when he hold Tenten's hand trying to feel a pulse, Sakura tackled him and Tenten grabbed his leg

"GET THE CRYSTAL!" Tenten said wrapping her arms on his leg.

Sakura wrestled his arms out of her way trying to pull the crystal from his neck.

"THREE MINUTES "

"Got it"

Sakura then grabbed Tenten's arm and together they speed off heading towards the finish line. As they're running, the three girls and Ami with her gang are in the middle of the finish line and them.

Sakura and Tenten stand back to back as the six girls started to form a circle around them.

"Got a plan?" Tenten asked

"I always **always **have a plan" Sakura replied adding an emphasis at the last 'always'

"ONE MINUTE"

The six girls charged at both of them at the same time but Sakura reached into Hinata's pouch digging for something

"This is your plan?" Tenten asked

"Not yet" Sakura said before grabbing some purple round objects and throw it towards the crowd and when it exploded, purple smoke clouds starts to appear.

...

"It's getting really exciting!" Kiba exclaimed

"Really clever of that girl to faked her friend's injury to fool the chuunin" Asuma stated

"GO SAKURA CHAN! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" Naruto cheered

"TENTEN! THE POWER OF YOUTH IS BURNING WITHIN YOU!"

Sasuke saw the fight with an intense expression along with Neji

_She'll make it _Sasuke thought

...

Ami and her gang found it hard to see with the purple smoke. Ami started to wonder around until a figure slammed into her.

"Oh it's you" Tenten said before she punched her.

"Let's go Ten" Sakura said dragging Tenten along

"Payback time" Tenten called out

Both Sakura and Tenten emerge out of the smoke

"How did you know where to go?" Tenten asked "And what kind of plan is that?"

"It's a secret" Sakura replied with a wink "and the plan worked because I know your sensei once trained you with a blindfold to improve your hearing so we won't bump into anyone just now. Although we did bump into Ami"

"Only because I want to" Tenten grinned when Sakura glared at her

They both passed by the finish line five seconds before the time limit.

"You both passed" Aoba said after he saw the crystal both Sakura and Tenten held in their hand.

"YEAH" Tenten screamed jumping up and down "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"

Sakura throw the crystal at her after she said the last sentence.

...

"WE MADE IT!" Naruto screamed "GREAT JOB SAKURA CHAN!"

Sasuke saw her throwing the crystal at Tenten after her suggestion on doing it again and he smirked when he saw her annoyed face

"THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH BURNS WITHIN THEM!" Lee cried while tears comes out of his eyes

Neji looked at Sasuke and they both glared at each other each determined to face off one another

"Can we go down and congratulate them?" Kakashi asked Raido

"Not yet, a medic still need to check them up"

"SAKURA ARE YOU OKAY?!" everyone turned and saw Tenten holding Sakura's arm who's sitting on the floor looking pale

...

"I'm fine Ten, I just lost too many blood" Sakura said as a medic is examining the wound

Ino and Hinata is also standing close to her

"She's going to need stitches" the medic said

"STITCHES?!" Ino screeched "You should've been the second one out"

"You're out of chakra"

"I should've not accepted the crystal"

"Out of chakra?" Tenten asked

"She occupy your body for a while" Hinata said

"Wait what?"

"I'm going to put this medicine on you and it's going to sting a lot so just stand it" the medic said dabbing some sort of liquid on it

"OWWWW" Sakura cried out in pain

"AREN'T WE AMAZING! THE CHUUNIN EXAM HAVEN'T STARTED YET AND WE'RE ALREADY INJURED LIKE THIS! WHO'S STUPID IDEA IS IT ANYWAY TO SET THIS WHOLE THING AND MAKE US GIRLS COMPETE IN IT?" Ino shouted causing Aoba to move near the boys on top a bit terrified of Ino's wrath

Hinata then approach towards Sakura and said "Thank you"

"It's also my fault you got hurt" Sakura said instead "if I didn't anger her she wouldn't have strike you"

"I owe you one" Ino grudgingly said "and you should've escaped earlier before me"

"What happened when I passed out?" Tenten asked

"You tell" Sakura said to Ino gesturing towards Tenten while holding her injured arm

...

"Sakura's hurt?" Naruto asked Kakashi sensei

"It's from her fight with one of the girls, she got slashed by a whip" Kakashi said

"Luckily it didn't hit her face" Kiba said "still beautiful"

"Can we go down now?" Naruto keep on pressing

"I don't think they'll like you interrupting their bonding time" Kakashi replied and the boys saw the girls huddled up talking

...

"So that's how I failed to get the third crystal" Ino finishes while laying her head on Hinata's back

"I found it hard to believe that you did nothing but just lie down" Tenten said wrapping her arms around Sakura using her to lean on

"What does that mean?" Ino said

"No offense but you don't look like the type that can just sit down and do nothing"

"But she did" Sakura added "which also surprises me that you managed to"

"I still don't know how you both become friends with each other" Ino said "did you know that she's really anti-social?"

"I did, after all I'm her closest friend" Tenten said grinning and hugging Sakura's tighter

"She's the male version of Uchiha Sasuke" Ino added the last part with a dreamy look in her eyes "lucky you for being on the same team with him"

"Not really" Sakura said "You are soo welcome to borrow him until the next like...ten years"

"OH SASUKE!" Ino shouted waving at him

"You said Sasuke's ugly" Tenten accused looking at Sasuke from afar

"He is" Sakura replied back "his hair resembles a chicken's butt"

"How did the two of you met each other anyway?" Ino asked

"That's a long story" Tenten said "I sort of abused her"

"You? Abusing Sakura?" Ino snorted in disbelief

"It's true!"

"I think it's time for you girls to get back to your teammates" Aoba said towards them

"Remember pinky, just because we got along today doesn't mean we're friends" Ino said "I still don't like you"

"Got it" Sakura said giving her a salute and a mock smile

"So the next time we met we might have to fight each other huh" Tenten said towards Sakura

"I guess so"

"Me and my team won't lose" Tenten said with determination

"Challenge accepted" Sakura said smiling looking ahead

Hinata looked at Sakura's back seems like in deep thought

"GREAT JOB SAKURA CHAN" Naruto cheered and Sasuke just nodded towards Sakura after she met up with them

"I have to say I'm impressed" Kakashi said

"It's not the exam yet Naruto" Sakura said with a determined look "the real battle is about to begin"

.

.

.

RxR pls


End file.
